Medtech Leader Edwards Drives Meaningful Innovation for Patients

Edwards Lifesciences has continuously developed the world’s leading technologies for structural heart disease and critical care medicine

More than 500,000 heart valve procedures are performed worldwide each year, many utilizing sophisticated medical technologies like those made by Edwards that enable either the repair or replacement of diseased heart valves.

Edwards Lifesciences’ roots date to 1958, when Miles “Lowell” Edwards set out to build the first artificial heart. Edwards was a 60-year-old, recently retired engineer with an entrepreneurial spirit and a dream of helping patients with heart disease. With a background in hydraulics and fuel pump operations, Edwards believed the human heart could be mechanized. He presented the concept to Dr. Albert Starr, a young surgeon at the University of Oregon Medical School, who thought the idea was too complex. Instead, Starr encouraged Edwards to focus first on developing an artificial heart valve, for which there was an immediate need.

After just two years, the first Starr-Edwards mitral valve was designed, developed, tested, and successfully placed in a patient. This innovation spawned a company, Edwards Laboratories, which set up shop in Santa Ana, California – not far from where Edwards Lifesciences’ corporate headquarters is located today.

The spirit of innovation remains central to Edwards today. Since introducing the first commercially available heart valve in 1960, Edwards Lifesciences has continued to meaningfully advance heart valve therapy.

Today, Edwards continues to lead the field of tissue replacement heart valves and repair products and advanced hemodynamic monitoring. Edwards’ major product lines are focused on transcatheter aortic valve replacement, surgical heart valve replacement and repair and critical care monitoring.

The company invests approximately 17 to 18 percent of sales in R&D, and recent years’ product growth is directly related to the outputs of Edwards’ R&D. Over the last several years, Edwards has been proud to introduce several innovative products that help maintain strong global leadership positions and enabled more patients to benefit from the company’s life-saving technologies than ever before.

Edwards continues to be focused on solving unmet needs and promoting transformative solutions with the power to make meaningful differences across the spectrum of healthcare – for patients, clinicians and the overall healthcare system.