Edwards Lifesciences

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW) is a global leader in products and technologies to treat advanced cardiovascular disease, the global leader in acute hemodynamic monitoring and the number-one heart valve company in the world. Headquartered in Irvine, California, Edwards has more than 5,700 employees worldwide.

About Edwards Lifesciences

Edwards' story began 50 years ago in the workshop of Miles "Lowell" Edwards, an electrical engineer by training and a lifelong inventor. Driven by an insatiable curiosity, Edwards filed 63 patents, mainly in the aviation and pulp and paper industries, before he retired with his wife to California in 1957. Even in retirement, Edwards' curiosity was relentless and within weeks he was contemplating another project - one that would change his life and the lives of countless others forever.

A bout of rheumatic fever at age 13, and a severe recurrence in his teens, had taught Edwards of the illness' potential to damage the valves of the heart and sparked his interest in fixing the heart's problems. Only weeks after retiring, the 60-year-old inventor, with a background in hydraulics, was busy theorizing how the human heart - essentially a pump, he thought - could be mechanized. He enlisted the help of Dr. Albert Starr, a young surgeon at Oregon Health Sciences University, who suggested that they focus first on developing an artificial heart valve.

It took the men only two years to design, develop and test the Starr-Edwards Silastic ball valve, which could be used to replace the mitral valve in a human heart. On September 21, 1960, a 52-year-old farmer named Philip Amundson, who in childhood had also suffered from rheumatic fever, became the first patient to receive the Starr-Edwards valve. The next day, newspapers nationwide proclaimed a "miracle heart surgery success." Amundson continued to enjoy a healthy and productive life until his death from an unrelated cause a decade later.

Less than a year after introducing the world's first commercially available replacement mitral valve, Edwards and Starr debuted its aortic counterpart. These innovations spawned a company, Edwards Laboratories, which went on to launch a number of additional "firsts" in medical technology. Continuing Edwards' practice of collaborating with leading clinicians in the medical field, Edwards Laboratories worked with cardiologists Jeremy Swan and William Ganz to develop the first hemodynamic monitoring system for critically ill patients, and with vascular surgeon Thomas Fogarty to launch the first catheter technology to remove blood clots from the limbs. The Swan-Ganz and Fogarty brands of product lines became highly successful and still maintain worldwide leadership positions in their respective areas today.

In 1966, Edwards Laboratories was purchased by American Hospital Supply Corporation and continued its pioneering work by developing and introducing its Carpentier-Edwards brand product line of replacement heart valves and heart valve repair products. Today, the Carpentier-Edwards heart valves, made of porcine and pericardial tissue, are the most widely prescribed tissue replacement valves in the world.

In 1985, Baxter International Inc. purchased American Hospital Supply and established the Edwards organization as its CardioVascular Group. The CardioVascular Group, eager to transform itself into an even more successful business, became an independent cardiovascular company in 2000. Management and employees considered thousands of options for the name of the new company and at the end of the day, there was one clear choice. The legacy of quality and innovation established years before by Lowell Edwards made Edwards Lifesciences the overwhelming favorite.

Edwards Lifesciences was "reborn" when it was spun off from Baxter and its stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 2000.

Corporate Headquarters: USA - Irvine, CA Edwards Irvine headquarters is home to the world’s most advanced heart valve therapy manufacturing plant and the Museum of Heart Valve Design, the most prominent facility of its kind in the world. The clinicians, inventors, research and devices showcased in the museum span the history of heart valve therapies, from the first devices to today’s most sophisticated technologies.

Regional Headquarters:
 * Europe - St. Prex, Switzerland
 * Japan - Tokyo

Manufacturing Facilities:
 * Irvine, CA
 * Midvale, UT
 * Dominican Republic - Haina, San Cristobal
 * Switzerland - Horw
 * Puerto Rico - Anasco
 * Singapore - Techview