Abbot will benefit in long run with acquisition of Evalve.

The acquisition will definitely have a significantly beneficial effect on the market standing as well as product portfolio of Abbot.  Even though at the present time this technique developed by Evalve Inc. is useful only for a very small subset of patients, eventually Abbott can develop it further to extend it to a bigger group and therefore in the long run it will be able to win a bigger market share.

The mitral valve prevents blood from reversing its direction so that it is pumped in the forward direction in the body. If the mitral valve is incompetent then only a part of the blood in the main pumping chamber of the heart that is the left ventricle, is propelled forward. The remaining takes reverse path. This places a lot of load on the heart and eventually the heart starts failing. At present we postpone the mitral valve surgery till late in the course of the disease.

Mitral incompetence is having a big spectrum of structural abnormalities of the mitral valve apparatus. Some of these can be taken care by stitching together a part of the leaflets. That is what exactly is done by the technique developed by Evalve but with a catheter based device, wherein the leaflets are stapled together at a certain point.  

However there are a host of different other techniques we use to take care of the other structural abnormalities. And therefore majority of patients will still need to undergo surgical repair against catheter repair. However as Abbott develops the technique further, more and more patients will be benefited with catheter based technique.

Therefore Abbott will be benefited with this acquisition in the long run.