A day after a 29-year-old mother gave birth during an emergency C-section in a German hospital, she returned to the ER where she was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism.
The physicians knew how to use Inari Medical Inc.’s FlowTriever to substantially remove a clot and she returned to a normal heart rate.
“After several days of further improvement, this patient was discharged to a family and newborn baby and made a full recovery,” Inari Chief Executive Drew Hykes told analysts on a conference call.
“She is just one of the many thousands of European patients whom we have been able to serve with our technology in the three years since we introduced our tool kits to the region.”
Inari reported on April 30 its international sales jumped 120% to $9.5 million in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago. The increase was driven by western Europe and about 15 other markets and it expects to expand in China and Japan later this year.
The performance was one reason that the Irvine-based provider of devices to remove clots from veins reported first-quarter sales climbed 23% to $143.2 million, topping the analyst consensus of $138.4 million.
While the first quarter beat was $5 million, the company boosted its annual forecast by $10 million to $592.5 million, then to $602.5 million, implying growth of 20% to 22%.
“As we exited a strong 2023 and made our way through Q1, we saw strength in VTE (venous thromboembolism), we saw robust growth across emerging therapies, and we saw another strong quarter of crisp execution and growth from the international part of our business,” Hykes said. “I think all of those considerations are factored into the of the increase in guidance by $10 million at the midpoint.”
In the subsequent two trading sessions, the shares popped 12% to $41.99 and a $2.4 billion market cap.
Before the results were announced, the stock hit an all-time low of $36.73. The stock is off its all-time high of around $116, reached in 2021.
Analysts are forecasting 2025 sales to climb 18% to $707 million. The company reiterated that it expects to reach “sustained operating profitability” in the first half of 2025.
Comeback?
It could be the start of a comeback for Inari, which saw its shares plunge around 30% to $40.73 in the week following news on Feb. 28 that the Department of Justice had opened an investigation over alleged kickbacks to healthcare professionals. Hykes said he had little update on the DOJ investigation.
Hykes became CEO in early 2023, replacing Bill Hoffman, who took over in 2015 when the company had 10 employees and no approved products. Inari has developed its products from the ground up with a specific purpose to remove clots from veins while competitors have tried to repurpose products designed to remove clots from arteries. Inari now has 1,300 employees.
It says it’s the leader in venous thromboembolism technologies in the U.S., which has $6 billion total addressable market. Hykes noted competitors are entering the market.
“This is one of the most attractive end markets in medtech,” Hykes said. “We remain the clear market leader and are confident and continuing to be the market leader.
“This is a market that we built and we’re not going to sit by and idly, passively allow folks with inferior technology and inferior data have unfettered access to this market. So, we’re going to compete. We’re going to compete aggressively.”
