New products and new uses for existing ones look to be a major part of Orange County’s healthcare story in 2011.
Edwards Lifesciences Corp., the Irvine heart valve maker, is moving forward with a U.S. trial for its Sapien valve, which is inserted via a catheter and doesn’t require major surgery.
Sapien, which accounts for some $200 million in annual sales overseas, could go before the Food and Drug Administration by the end of 2011.
The device and rival products—including one from the Irvine unit of Minnesota’s Medtronic Inc.—are seen as a major advance that stands to open up the heart valve market to more patients.
Abbott Medical Optics, a Santa Ana-based maker of eye surgery devices and contact lens care products that’s part of the Chicago area’s Abbott Laboratories, could receive approval for Synchrony, a replacement lens used in cataract surgeries next year.
Allergan Inc., the Irvine-based drug maker, is set to go into its first year of selling flagship Botox for treating chronic migraine headaches.
The company, which sees more than $1 billion in annual sales for Botox, could gain an additional $500 million in yearly revenue from migraine sales, according to analysts.
The FDA also may consider a request by Allergan to sell its Lap-Band flexible silicon band for weight loss to more patients.
Brea medical testing company Beckman Coulter Inc. (see below) is looking for a permanent chief executive and plans to reintroduce a test to detect heart attacks. It recalled a reworked version of the test earlier this year.
A pair of companies—one newly minted and one relocated—will start their first full year among the county’s publicly traded ranks.
Questcor Pharmaceuticals Inc., a drug maker, recently moved to Anaheim from the Bay Area. Irvine’s Sabra Health Care REIT Inc., which owns nursing homes and other buildings leased by Sun Healthcare Group Inc., recently debuted after spinning off from Sun.
2011 opens with potential murkiness surrounding last year’s healthcare reform.
Republicans, who regained control of the House of Representatives in last month’s midterm elections, have vowed to repeal all or part of healthcare reform.
Next year looks to be quiet for hospitals after a building boom in the past decade.
Kaiser Permanente still is working on its $850 million healthcare complex in Anaheim, one of the largest construction projects in the county. The Oakland-based not-for-profit’s complex includes a hospital, two medical office buildings, a utility plant and a parking structure.
Kaiser’s project is set to be done in about two years.
There have been some changes at local hospitals.
St. Joseph Hospital-Orange, the county’s largest by revenue, opens 2011 with a new chief executive. Former Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian official Steve Moreau succeeds longtime Chief Executive Larry Ainsworth.
On the employment front, projections from Chapman University’s recent 2011 economic and business review show healthcare is among the few sectors expected to see job growth in 2011, with a 2.7% increase expected.
As for healthcare costs, a recent survey from New York-based Mercer LLC, which has an office in Newport Beach, predicts that employers here and across Southern California could see their health benefit costs to go up by 7% in 2011.
PERSON TO WATCH
MICHAEL MUSSALLEM
Michael Mussallem, the only chief executive in the 10-year history of Irvine-based heart valve maker Edwards Lifesciences Corp., appears to have the company poised to reach a milestone next year.
The company’s Sapien heart valve, which is inserted through a catheter rather than open heart surgery, now is in U.S. clinical trials and could go before the Food and Drug Administration for approval consideration by the end of 2011.
Sapien and related valves are seen as the biggest development in the industry in years, holding the potential to open the market to people who now aren’t strong enough for a traditional heart valve procedure.
—Vita Reed
COMPANY TO WATCH
BECKMAN COULTER INC.
Brea-based medical diagnostic products maker Beckman Coulter Inc. could be bought next year after a turbulent 2010.
The company reportedly is exploring a potential sale that could fetch $5 billion. Private equity firms Blackstone Group LP and Apollo Global Management LLC, both of New York, could be interested.
The company also has been a long-speculated acquisition for bigger players. They include Abbott Laboratories, Siemens AG and Roche Diagnostics Corp., part of Roche Holdings Ltd.
The company has spent most of 2010 addressing issues from a March recall of a test used to detect heart attacks.
The recall prompted a downward revision in the company’s 2010 profit projection and led to the September departure of former chief executive Scott Garrett.
—Vita Reed
