The pulse of the competition also quickened recently when both received federal approval to sell a heart valve made entirely from soft pig tissue. An improvement over earlier tissue heart valves with a hard plastic rim, the all-soft version is more natural and likely to last longer. Having spent eight years developing the processing method, the companies have now dispatched hundreds of salespeople to compete against one another. For St. Jude, which has dominated the world market with its graphite mechanical heart valve for 20 years, the new tissue heart valve is key to its strategy for the future.
Mechanical valves are best suited for younger people, and the population is growing older.
For Medtronic, said executives, the valves are a big step toward making a tissue valve that will last a lifetime. Like other medical devices, heart valves have a markup of more than 80 percent. While the buying decision for other types of medical products is often made by hospital administrators and health maintenance organizations, the surgeon is still the decision-maker when it comes to heart valves. Hospital administrators aren't willing to take on that risk. But surgeons can be a tough sell.