AUGUST - 20228In My OpinionWHY INNOVATION TO TREAT AGING HEARTS IS IMPERATIVEMichael Dale, Senior Vice President, Abbott [NYSE:ABT]ByIn the past century, the global average life expectancy has more than doubled and is expected to increase even further in the coming decades, making it imperative that health solutions keep up with the needs that accompany our longer lives. Meeting the needs of an aging population requires innovation and improvements in effectiveness and efficiency for today's solutions to ensure we can help the greatest number of people.For more than 130 years, Abbott has been helping people live longer, healthier lives by developing solutions that solve some of the world's biggest health issues. In particular, Abbott's cardiovascular businesses have been focused on significantly expanding its portfolio to address the critical unmet needs of people with complex heart issues. In some cases, technologies available today ­ such as new solutions for mitral valve disease ­ were simply ideas just a matter of years ago. Aiding an Aging Population It is estimated that there will be 1.6 billion people over the age of 60by 2030, with valvular heart disease expected to cause an increase in public-health problems in the coming years, especially for the aging population. In fact, one in 10 people over 65 years old will face moderate to severe valve disease. As valve disease progresses, the hearts ability to deliver oxygenated blood to the body is disrupted, creating a number of challenges that impacts quality of life and related serious health problems.Mitral regurgitation (MR) is one of the most common heart conditions, impacting roughly four million people in the U.S. and millions of others around the world. , , , MR is a progressive condition where the mitral valve does not close completely, allowing blood to flow backward into the left atrium instead of out of the heart and to the rest of the body. In 2008, Abbott announced approval and launch of MitraClipTMin Europe. MitraClip is the world's first transcatheter mitral valve repair therapy, more recently referred to as transcatheter edge-to-edge repair,that repairs leaky mitral valves through a minimally invasive procedure.Before MitraClip, open-heart surgery was
< Page 7 | Page 9 >