Sales up 7.3% at Medtronic's Santa Rosa unit

<p>Medtronic's Santa Rosa-based vascular business grew 7.3 percent in the third quarter, driven by strong performance outside the United States, the medical device maker said Tuesday.</p><p>The vascular unit posted $572 million in sales for the the quarter ended Jan. 27, up from $533 million for the same period last year.</p><p>About 71 percent of that business — or $411 million — came from markets outside the United States.</p><p>Medtronic gained from products such as the Resolute Integrity stent, a next-generation device developed in Santa Rosa for treating coronary artery disease. Physicians implant the tiny wire mesh tubes in patients' clogged arteries to keep blood flowing to the heart.</p><p>“In the international markets we continue to take share due to Resolute Integrity's deliverability and clinical performance,” Medtronic chief financial officer Gary Ellis told Wall Street analysts on Tuesday.</p><p>Last week, Medtronic won federal regulatory approval to begin selling the device in the United States. Resolute Integrity should become a major player in the $1.5 billion domestic market for drug-coated stents, Ellis said.</p><p>“We believe it will be a meaningful driver of revenue growth and significant share gains,” he said. </p><p>About 1 million stents are now implanted in the U.S. each year. The drug-coated versions, which prevent arteries from re-clogging, cost an average of $1,500.</p><p>Resolute Integrity is the only drug-coated stent now approved in the U.S. for treating patients with diabetes, who represent about a third of the market, Medtronic said.</p><p>The Minneapolis-based device maker has about 840 workers in Santa Rosa, headquarters for its global vascular business. In addition to coronary stents, it develops technology for treating endovascular and peripheral artery disease.</p><p>That segment posted $190 million in global sales last quarter, up 17 percent from a year ago. It gained from last year's U.S. release of the Endurant abdominal stent graft for treating aortic aneurysms, dangerous bulges in the body's main artery.</p><p>Companywide, Medtronic reported $3.9 billion in third-quarter sales, up 2 percent from the same period a year ago. Earnings of $935 million were up 1 percent.</p><p>But Medtronic shares fell 2 percent Tuesday to $38.99 after the company missed revenue forecasts on weaker sales of implantable cardiac defibrillators and spinal products.</p>