Medtronic Ats Medical, Inc.

ATS Medical, Inc. is a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of products and services focused on cardiac surgery. Global in scope, the company has remained headquartered in Minneapolis since its founding in 1991. ATS Medical serves the $2.5 billion cardiac surgery market of 9, 000 cardiac surgeons in 3, 000 open heart centers performing up to 1.2 million cardiac procedures each year.



The goal of ATS Medical is to become a more diversified cardiac surgery business by way of new business development and innovative leadership in proprietary technologies and services for the cardiac surgery community. The company is well positioned to leverage its sales, marketing and distribution infrastructure to build brand value and equity and deliver innovative products and services going forward. Its future growth will come from two distinct but operationally synergistic categories: heart valve therapy and surgical cardiac ablation.





ATS Medical was launched in 1991 under the direction of noted industry figure Manny Villafana, its founder and first CEO. The fledgling company's goal was to advance the performance standard of mechanical heart valves. The result was the ATS Open Pivot® Heart Valve, today the growing choice of cardiac surgeons because of its distinctive design and performance. The ATS Open Pivot Heart Valve was first sold in international markets in 1992. FDA clearance to sell the valve in the United States was granted in October 2000.



The ATS Open Pivot Heart Valve was designed to be an evolutionary improvement on other available mechanical heart valves by incorporating a pivot mechanism consisting of protruding spheres on which the valve's leaflets pivot to open and close. This unique open pivot was intended to eliminate the cavity created by the pivot of other bileaflet valves and to improve blood flow through the valve, minimizing potential for clot formation.



New management was assembled in October 2002 with Michael D. Dale assuming the position of President and Chief Executive Officer. Under his leadership and with guidance from the Board of Directors, the structure of the company and sales organization throughout the world was altered, resulting in a dramatic positive change in sales. Mr. Dale took on the additional responsibilities of Chairman of the Board in May 2004.



To date, more than 140, 000 ATS Open Pivot Heart Valves have been implanted worldwide and multiple new products and services have been added to ATS Medical's product and service offerings through acquisitions, product development or distribution agreements creating a diversified cardiac surgery-focused company. New products and services include ATS CryoMaze™ products for the ablation of cardiac arrhythmias, ATS Simulus® annuloplasty repair rings and bands and QAS (Quality Assured Services) home INR monitoring of oral anticoagulants.