UPDATE 3-Boston Sci device hits goal in heart failure trial
* Reduces death, intervention for early-stage patients
* More than 1,800 patients in the study
* Could expand market for CRT-D devices
* Boston Sci shares rise 4.8 pct
* St Jude, Medtronic also up (Recasts, adds analyst comments, updates shares)
By Lewis Krauskopf and Debra Sherman
NEW YORK/CHICAGO, June 23 (Reuters) - Early intervention with Boston Scientific Corp's (BSX.N) implantable devices, called cardiac resynchronization therapy, can slow the progression of heart failure, according to closely watched preliminary study results released by the company on Tuesday.
The study could significantly expand the market for the devices, which coordinate heart pumping through electrical pulses, beyond the sickest heart failure patients.
Shares of Boston Scientific rose as high as $9.91 after results of the long-awaited clinical trial were released and were still up 44 cents or 4.8 percent at $9.68 in late-morning trade. Among rival heart-rhythm device makers, Medtronic Inc (MDT.N) was up 1.8 percent, and St. Jude Medical Inc (STJ.N) gained 4.4 percent.
Boston Scientific's MADIT-CRT study of more than 1,800 patients met its main goal, finding that the CRT devices when combined with a defibrillator cut the risk of death or heart failure interventions by 29 percent compared with defibrillators alone.
The company-sponsored trial looked at early-stage heart failure patients who already have defibrillators to see whether cardiac resynchronization therapy, or CRT, can slow the progression of the condition.
Nearly 22 million people worldwide, including 5.5 million Americans, suffer from heart failure. About 70 percent of all heart failure patients are in the early stage.
The study had been highly anticipated by Wall Street because a positive result could boost sales of more expensive defibrillators that also have the CRT feature.
Spencer Nam, an analyst at Summer Street Research, said the market generally had expected positive results, but the 29 percent reduction was surprisingly strong.
The results could lead the more than $12 billion market for defibrillators and pacemakers to improve from high-single-digit growth to at least 10 percent growth, Nam said.
"I don't know if this is going to send this whole space to the next level of growth yet, but this was one of the catalysts that the industry was looking for to generate more adoption," Nam said.
Some analysts have predicted that good trial results would double the market for devices that combine CRT with defibrillators (CRT-D) to about 500,000 patients, boosting company profits by shifting sales to the more expensive combination products.
The CRT-D devices cost $25,000 to $33,000, while a standard defibrillator costs $20,000 to $27,000.
Heart failure patients have weakened hearts that do not pump efficiently. Late-stage patients have severe limitations on everyday activities, like climbing stairs, while early-stage patients have slight symptoms or none at all.
Standard defibrillators, or ICDs, involve two electrical lead wires that extend to the heart's right ventricle. CRT-D devices add a third lead that attaches to the left ventricle, helping it coordinate pumping of the chambers and improve efficiency. When both ventricles are paced to contract at the same time, the device can reduce the symptoms of heart failure.
Researchers plan to present full results of the MADIT-CRT study later this year, after which Boston Scientific hopes to apply for U.S. approval to expand the use of the CRT-D devices to the earlier-stage group, a company spokeswoman said.
Lazard Capital Markets analyst Sean Lavin called the study "practice-changing."
"We expect physicians to significantly alter their practices once the full data is published later this year," Lavin said in a research note. (Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf and Debra Sherman; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Gerald E. McCormick)
