Medtronic 2010 Annual Report Download - page 7

CEO Bill Hawkins (left) shows Medtronic co-founder Earl Bakken that his legacy of innovation continues with one of our newest therapies—
a replacement heart valve delivered via catheter, making surgery much less invasive.
As we head into fiscal year 2011, our pipeline of innovative
new products has never been fuller. We plan to launch more
than 60 new products around the world over the next two
years, including CryoCath for atrial fibrillation; Protecta ICD
with proprietary shock-reduction; Solera, a state-of-the-art
posterior fixation system for spinal surgery; AMPLIFY, a bone
morphogenetic protein therapy for posterolateral spinal
applications; Comfort Sensor for continuous glucose moni-
toring; Resolute and Integrity, two innovative coronary
stents; RestoreSensor, a neurostimulator that automatically
adjusts stimulation based on body position and activity; and
InterStim for fecal incontinence in the United States.
Innovation at Medtronic could originate from an employee
who has a bold idea, a physician who strives daily to improve
patient lives, or a partnership we share with leading hospi-
tals and universities. There are thousands of people in our
industry working together to develop new therapies, and
we’re all part of an exciting revolution happening across
healthcare.
This revolution is driven by the rapid convergence of innova-
tive technologies across the engineering, life, and information
sciences—and Medtronic sits at the epicenter. Through our
combination of diagnostic, therapeutic, and monitoring
technologies, we now have the ability to treat and manage
disease along the entire continuum of care and change the
way healthcare is delivered.
Just imagine a world where one day many of the most debil-
itating chronic diseases are managed systematically, com-
prehensively, and even remotely, as patients, physicians, and
hospitals are connected in a seamless web of wireless tech-
nology. Or imagine a day when many of today’s invasive
surgical procedures will be routinely performed on an
outpatient basis. Advances like these are not far away. They
are already empowering patients, reducing healthcare costs,
and providing solutions across the globe to meet society’s
most pressing healthcare challenges.
A critical source of this innovation is our collaboration with
the industry’s best and brightest physicians. One key area
where we extended our leadership was through greater
transparency of these important relationships. The trust and
confidence in our industry is at stake, and we will help
rebuild this trust by continuing to demonstrate our leader-
ship in matters of ethics and integrity.
To that end, we were among the first healthcare companies
to make our consulting payments to doctors transparent.
Early in fiscal year 2010, we announced plans to voluntarily
disclose all consulting payments to our physician partners
on Medtronic’s website. I’m pleased to report that as of May
31, 2010, the Physician Collaboration Section of our website
went live. We encourage others in the industry to provide
similar infor mation to help patients make more informed
decisions about their healthcare.
Glob al g ro wth
We are committed to making a sustained, global impact in
the fight against chronic disease. Currently, Medtronic derives
about 41 percent of our revenues outside of the United
States. Given that 95 percent of the world’s population resides
outside the United States, and that chronic disease is the
leading cause of death globally, we know we must continue
to expand our presence in rapidly growing global markets.
We must become a truly “boundaryless” organization.
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