Edwards completes enrollment in valve study

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Edwards Lifesciences Corp said on Monday it has finished enrolling patients in a study of its Sapien aortic heart valve that is threaded into place with a catheter without the need for open-heart surgery.

Enrollment has been completed in both arms of the 1,040-patient Partner clinical trial comparing the Sapien transcatheter valve with traditional surgical aortic valve replacement and nonsurgical treatments, said Edwards, the world's largest maker of heart valves.

The Sapien valve was approved for sale in Europe in late 2007, and Edwards is hoping for approval in the U.S. market by 2011. Edwards competes with CoreValve, which was acquired by Medtronic Inc in February.

Shares of Irvine, California-based Edwards were down 1.1 percent at $61.47 in morning New York Stock Exchange trading.

(Reporting by Susan Kelly, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)