Edwards Lifesciences Corp (NYSE:EW)

Edwards Lifesciences Corp. designs, develops, manufactures and markets products to treat late stage cardiovascular disease. Its technologies are categorized into four areas: Heart Valve Therapy, Critical Care, Cardiac Surgery Systems and Vascular. The Heart Valve Therapy manufactures tissue heart valves and repair products, which are used to replace defective heart valve. The company produces pericardial and porcine valves from biologically inert animal tissue sewn onto proprietary wire for stents. The Critical Care provides hemodynamic monitoring technologies used to measure a patient's heart function in surgical and intensive care settings. Hemodynamic monitoring enables a clinician to balance the oxygen supply and demand of a critically ill patient and plays an important role in assuring tissue and organ perfusion, and ultimately patient survival. The Cardiac Surgery Systems offers benefits, including smaller incisions, less blood loss, quick recoveries and less scarring. It also includes the ThruPort minimal incision valve surgery platform that enables surgeons to perform intricate procedures through small incisions and tailor procedures based on their preferred surgical approach. The Vascular the pervasive nature of cardiovascular disease means that the circulatory conditions that occur inside the heart are often mirrored in peripheral blood vessels elsewhere in a patient's body. Atherosclerotic disease is one common condition that involves the thickening of blood vessels and the formation of circulation restricting plaque, clots and other substances. Edwards Lifesciences was founded by Miles Lowell Edwards in 1958 and is headquartered in Irvine, CA.