According to Mass Device, at Boston Scientific's 2023 Investor Day, CEO Mike Mahoney announcedThe Company's Next Goal – To Make Boston Scientific a "Compelling" and "Fantastic" Place in the Next 10 Years.The company is currently making long-term investments in areas such as mergers and acquisitions and digitalization.

"We are elevating our performance," Mahoney said. "We have high expectations for the company, but we want to do the right thing for society while maintaining an excellent corporate culture, and at the same time, aim to provide a unique set of financial reports in the process."

Boston Scientific has always been a leader in most sectors. To strengthen its leading position, it continues to implement a corporate merger and acquisition strategy.Even on the eve of the Investor Day, Boston Scientific made a significant acquisition move, announcing an $850 million deal to acquire Relievant Medsystems.

In the past 12 months, including this agreement, Boston Scientific has completed three acquisitions.At the end of 2022, the company announced plans to acquire a majority stake in Acotec for approximately $523 million. In April this year, the company completed the $615 million acquisition of Apollo Endosurgery. The multiple acquisitions over the past few years, as well as recent moves, demonstrate Boston Scientific's clear strategy.

"Solidifying the leading position in the track is a key driver of this acquisition, and mergers and acquisitions will be an area we continue to focus on," Mahoney said. "It strengthens Boston Scientific's leading position in most tracks and drives it towards faster-growing markets.In the past decade, we have acquired more than 40 companies. Although there have been a few failures, most of these small mergers and acquisitions have indeed accelerated our innovation pace and boosted our market growth rate.”

Boston Scientific also pays great attention to its venture capital portfolio. Mahoney said, "Boston Scientific spends a significant amount of energy on research and development, collaborations, and incubator partnerships globally, but we think every day about how to adjust our corporate portfolio to make it better."

Relievant Medsystems has developed and commercialized the Intracept Intravertebral Nerve Ablation System for chronic pain. This FDA-approved minimally invasive procedure allows for same-day outpatient treatment of chronic vertebrogenic low back pain.

The procedure uses targeted radiofrequency energy to ablate the basivertebral nerve (BVN), stopping the nerve from transmitting pain signals to the brain.The Intracept Intrabone Nerve Ablation System offers multiple advantages, including minimally invasive, same-day surgery, no implants, preservation of overall spinal structure, and long-term pain relief in a single procedure, with the surgery taking only about an hour.

Jim Cassidy, President of Boston Scientific's Neuromodulation division, highlighted the benefits of acquiring Relievant during the company’s Investor Day: "Vertebral pain represents a significant unmet need, and this acquisition expands Boston Scientific's portfolio in interventional pain management therapies. Our portfolio now includes spinal cord stimulation, traditional radiofrequency, Vertiflex, and Relievant—a combination that is hard to match."

Mahoney stated that Boston Scientific will continue to develop in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technology in the future.Currently, products in imaging, neuromodulation, and urology have already involved artificial intelligence and digitalization. However, Boston Scientific's "omni-channel" strategy is not only about integrating AI into the devices themselves but also using artificial intelligence and digitalization to enhance business aspects.

"Omni-channel" is an AI-based sales and marketing platform aimed at consolidating touchpoints from various platforms.Boston Scientific Transmits Data Through AI Interface to Provide the Right Information and Education at the Right Time via the Right Channels. This Approach Can Accelerate Corporate Revenue and Offer Customers Additional Educational Opportunities.

In 2021, Boston Scientific also launched an e-commerce platform.Initially used for endoscopy, it has now been expanded to the field of urology. The company plans to extend its e-commerce platform to other business segments in 2024, which can effectively save costs and improve efficiency.

In addition, Boston Scientific has an expert link tool and technical suite for enabling remote services and support.The company developed it during the COVID-19 pandemic and now uses it for remote patient device calibration, capital equipment maintenance, and physician training.

Mahoney described the Chinese market as "one of the most attractive medical technology markets." According to Zhang Jun, President of Boston Scientific Greater China, the increase in demand, particularly the growth in PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention) procedures, is a particularly appealing aspect.

The question at this stage remains how to deal with the complexity in China, including payment reform, local competition, and policy shifts towards local procurement. Nevertheless, Boston Scientific's operations in China are projected to exceed $1 billion in revenue by 2024, with an anticipated growth rate in revenue.

Boston Scientific Seeks to Capture Upside Opportunities While Protecting Downside Risks, Prioritizing Speed, Localization, and Scale. This means accelerating product launches and treatment adoption, maintaining competitiveness through agile and localized operations. At the same time, focusing on highly differentiated product technologies to find new avenues for growth.

At the event day, Boston Scientific not only announced the company's future strategy but also mentioned the recent notable progress of its products Farapulse and Watchman.Farapulse has recently drawn attention due to positive research results, with analysts predicting it will soon receive FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) approval and be rapidly adopted. Just one week later, the company's latest left atrial appendage closure (LAAC) device, Watchman FLX Pro, also received FDA approval.Boston Scientific announced that, as of now, the number of patients treated with Watchman has exceeded 350,000.

Watchman President Dr. Angelo de Rosa stated, "Today, 38 million people worldwide suffer from atrial fibrillation, and we believe this number will reach 60 million by 2050. We are confident in expanding the indications on a large scale internationally, and the market will exceed $60 billion by 2030."

Regarding Farapulse, Nick Spadea-Anello, President of Electrophysiology, analyzed the market prospects of Boston Scientific. He emphasized the improvement in positive outcomes for patients with Farapulse pulsed field ablation, the simplification of the operator's workflow, and the significant relief of procedural stress on hospital systems.

In addition to updates from the event, Boston Scientific Corporation also announced the completion of patient enrollment in its Acurate PrimeXL trial, which is primarily aimed at evaluating the Acurate Prime Aortic Valve System.The Acurate Prime Aortic Valve System is an enhancement of the Acurate neo2 Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) System, designed to treat severe symptomatic aortic stenosis patients across all risk levels.

Boston Scientific Conducts Research on the Safety and Efficacy of the Acurate Prime Aortic Valve XL (29mm). The study reportedly includes 50 non-randomized subjects across 20 centers in the United States and 1,500 randomized subjects. All subjects who participated in the ACURATE IDE trial are included in this new study.

In the trial, patients treated with Acurate Prime will be compared to commercially available TAVR systems, such as Edwards Lifesciences' Sapien 3 or CoreValve, CoreValve Evolut, or Medtronic's Evolut Pro system.In the trial, for all subjects with implanted devices, follow-ups were conducted at baseline, perioperative period, and post-discharge or seven days post-operation, 30 days, six months, then annually up to ten years post-operation. Subjects enrolled without device implantation will be assessed for safety/adverse events within one year post-operation.

｜Source: Mass Device, Boston Scientific Official Website, Medical Device Innovation Network Translation

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