Bard Medical Device Company Intelligence Report

Medical Device Company Intelligence Reports provide a full review of the company's activities, from its origins to its latest corporate activity, including mergers and acquisitions, agreements, divestitures, major purchasing contracts and litigation. Sections are included on products, international activities and R&D, as well as a full, in-depth five year financial analysis. An introduction to each report and a full table of contents is provided for review. More than 60 Medical Device Company Intelligence Reports are currently available.

Headquartered in Murray Hill, New Jersey, US, C.R. Bard (Bard) designs and manufactures medical, surgical, diagnostic and patient care devices. The company sells its products to hospitals, individual healthcare professionals, extended care health facilities and alternate site facilities in the US and in more than 100 other countries, principally in Europe and Japan. In general, Bard's products are intended to be used once and then discarded or implanted either temporarily or permanently.

Bard serves the healthcare industry through five divisions - Bard Access Systems Inc, Bard Electrophysiology Division, Bard Medical Division, Bard Peripheral Vascular Inc (including Bard Biopsy Systems) and Davol Inc - and four major product group categories - vascular, urology, oncology and surgical specialties. The company also has a product group of 'Other Products'.

Vascular - Bard offers a range of products for peripheral vascular indications, with a focus on vascular patency (keeping veins and arteries open), through its Bard Electrophysiology and Bard Peripheral Vascular division.

Bard led the industry with the first angioplasty balloon catheter in 1980, giving cardiologists a safer and less costly alternative to open-heart procedures.

Bard Peripheral Vascular, a leader in ePTFE vascular prosthetic technology, provides a portfolio of endovascular products, including the VenaFlo vascular graft and DistaFlo bypass grafts which offer an alternative to vein cuffs and patches when adequate autologous saphenous vein is not available.

The January 2008 acquisition of the LifeStent family of stents from Edwards Lifesciences provided Bard with one of the broadest product offerings for peripheral vascular stenti

Urology - Bard claims to be the worldwide market leader in urological diagnostic and interventional products with a focus on urological drainage, continence and prostate disease management.

The company believes its Foley Catheter, which it introduced over 70 years ago, remains one of the most important products in the urological field. One example of Bard's breakthroughs is the Bardex I.C. Foley Catheter with Bard hydrogel and Bacti-Guard silver alloy coating, which is clinically proven to substantially reduce the rate of urinary tract infections and reduce the cost of additional therapy and hospital days. Other products include the Contigen Bard Collagen Implant used to treat stress urinary incontinence and the Criticore Patient Monitor, an electronic monitoring device that measures a patient's core body temperature and fluid (urine or ultrafiltrate) output.

Bard also entered the brachytherapy business in March 1998 with the purchase of Proseed Inc, which offers a turnkey programme that allows a hospital to implement brachytherapy treatment with lower investment cost and financial risk.

Oncology - Bard's oncology products and services are provided through Bard Access Systems, Bard Biopsy Systems and Bard Medical Division. They are designed for the detection, treatment and management of various cancers. These include specialty access catheters and ports; gastro-enterological products (endoscopic accessories, percutaneous feeding devices and stents); and biopsy devices.

The acquisition of Dymax Corp extended Bard Access Systems' portfolio to include ultrasound systems that allow physicians to have real-time visualisation of needle placement

Surgical Specialties - Bard maintains a complete line of advanced surgical specialty products and services to complement its focus on disease state management. These products are produced by Bard Medical, Bard Peripheral Vascular and Davol and include prosthetics for soft tissue repair and irrigation products for orthopaedic and laparoscopic procedures and topical haemostatic devices.
Other Products - The other product group includes irrigation, wound drainage and certain original equipment manufacturers' products.

Bard employs approximately 11,000 people. In 2008, the company generated revenues of US$2.45 billion, which made it the 28th largest global medical device company. Bard's main competitors are Baxter International, Boston Scientific and Ethicon.