Case Study – CoreValve

Situation: When Dr. Jacques Séguin initially contacted RTA, CoreValve had two employees, a partially completed business plan, no clinical data, and needed a cash infusion to extend beyond its modest seed funding.

Analysis: Exacerbating its difficulty in raising funds was the fact that  it was pioneering an all-new medical technology paradigm: the non-surgical, percutaneous replacement of diseased aortic heart valves.

Strategy: Position percutaneous aortic valve replacement (PAVR) as “the next big thing in the cath lab.”

Results: RTA was able to garner significant media coverage for CoreValve – including Forbes, The Associated Press and leading medtech industry publications – despite the fact that CoreValve at that time had no published clinical data, no U.S. presence, and limited prior visibility among the media and the investment community.

Bottom line: RTA was CoreValve’s PR/IR firm for five years, until it was acquired in April 2009 by Medtronic for $700 million plus milestone payments – which still represents the largest acquisition of a VC-based medtech company in more than a decade.