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| HeartWare rode strong sales of its Ventricular Assist System to a strong quarter.--Courtesy of HeartWare |
HeartWare ($HTWR) picked up a big FDA approval for its ventricular assist device back in November, and now the company is reaping the benefits of the implant's stateside launch, posting an 87% revenue increase and trimming its profit losses.
The company reported $49.2 million in first-quarter sales, up from last year's $26.4 million, and HeartWare narrowed its quarterly loss to $13 million from $18.9 million. Investors seemed elated with the company's progress, too, as HeartWare's shares jumped as high as 13.2% on the announcement, closing at $85.42 on Monday.
The company credits the revenue jump to increasing demand for the HeartWare Ventricular Assist System, and the company sold 482 pumps around the world, a 62% increase over the Q1 2012 and about 40% more than Q4's record 345.
In the device's first full quarter on the market in the U.S., domestic revenue more than tripled to $26.2 million, and HeartWare is committed to expanding the tech's adoption across the country, CEO Doug Godshall said.
"It has been quite gratifying to see such strong interest from new hospital centers thus far in our commercial launch," Godshall said in a statement. "Our team has been working diligently to expedite the training of additional hospitals in the U.S., and in the 5 months since FDA approval, 27 new U.S. sites have been trained."
Canaccord Genuity analyst Jason Mills said HeartWare's on the path to snag a huge share of the LVAD market, writing in a note to investors that the company's quarter "crushed even the most bullish prognostications."
But if the company wants to grow its U.S. market share, it'll have to convince customers that it has adequately dealt with some sporadic mechanical problems with the device. Back in February, HeartWare disclosed that 11 of the 2,900 implanted HVADs failed after a component came loose from the main unit, a problem that resulted in one patient's death. HeartWare has issued a field correction to identify affected devices and repair them.
- read HeartWare's financials
Special Report: HeartWare's Ventricular Assist System - Top 10 device and diagnostic FDA approvals of 2012