Thoratec Corporation (NASDAQ:THOR) Shares Surges on Clotting Issue in HTWR Data

Thoratec Corporation (NASDAQ:THOR) shares jumped Monday after data from a
clinical trial revealed that HeartWare Internationals (HTWR) ventricular-assist
device posed much higher risk of blood clots than expected, comparing
unfavorably with Thoratecs HeartMate II device. On the above news, THOR shares
were upgraded at Leerink Swann to "Outperform" from "Market Perform."
HeartWare presented an update from the active arm of the US ADVANCE trial in
BTT, as well as the trial's CAP program last Friday at the annual meeting for
the ISHLT conference.  This data showed an unprecedented 95% 6-month survival
rate, as well as very low rates of bleeding complications, both of which
continue to place HTWR's HVAD as the heir-apparent to the US LVAD market. This
data also showed that patients implanted with HeartWares mechanical heart-assist
device, known as the HVAD, had an unexpectedly high 9.2% chance of developing a
potentially life-threatening blood clot per year compared to estimated risk of
heart-pump-related thrombosis of 3% in case of Thoratec device, known as
HeartMate II. Six month and one year survival for the first 110 patients
enrolled in Heartware's ADVANCE CAP program is tracking at 95% and 92%,
respectively, compared to 94% and 86% for the original 140-patient pivotal
cohort. Hence, HVAD's overall performance remains strong. Analysts at JP
Morgan said that Thrombus concerns likely to weigh on HTWR, but HVADs
competitive position still strong. In the end, we expect this weekends results
to temper Street expectations for rapid adoption of the HVAD following its US
approval (anticipated by year end) and HeartWares shares are likely to come
under some pressure Monday as a result, they said. Our own view, however, is
that the HVAD remains a compelling option for patients, with this latest issue
just one piece of a multifaceted decision clinicians will face between two very
good pumps. HeartWares device is approved in Europe and awaiting approval in the
United States as a bridge-to-transplant (BTT), or to keep patients alive while
they wait for heart transplant. Analyst, Sean Lavin at Lazard upgraded the stock
of THOR from "neutral" to "Buy" saying that he expects the rate of
enrollment in the destination trial to slow, and market share in Europe and the
U.S. in future to be lower than he previously thought. Shares of the company
went up by 9.88% to $30.13 with volume of 4.02 million shares traded. The stock
has 52 week range of $22.33-$47.93. The market capital of the stock stands at
$1.77 billion with beta of 0.81. Thoratec Corporation (Thoratec) is a
manufacturer of mechanical circulatory support products for use by patients with
heart failure (HF).