Medtronic sees pulsed field ablation cut into cryo sales amid supply issues

Medtronic has reported revenue gains across several of its medical device franchises, leading the company to nudge up its financial guidance for the remainder of the year.

For the second quarter of its 2025 fiscal calendar, ending Oct. 25, the company posted a total haul of $8.4 billion in sales—for a 5.3% gain over the same period the year before—and a net income of about $1.28 billion.

From its cardiovascular divisions, Medtronic brought in $3.1 billion for an increase of 6.1%—driven in part by the launches this year of its Evolut FX+ transcatheter aortic valve replacement and the PulseSelect pulsed field ablation catheter for atrial fibrillation. The company also reported “high-teens growth” of its Micra leadless pacemaker.

The Evolut FX+ was approved by the FDA this past March; the TAVR system received a CE mark approval in late October, and the company said it began its commercialization in Europe last week.

But in cardiac ablation specifically, Medtronic said the division’s results evened out to about flat: as electrophysiologists have begun to adopt pulsed field ablation this year, the company’s cryoablation sales have declined.

“With PFA this quarter, we nearly doubled the number of physicians using PulseSelect and we more than doubled the total number of patients treated with this catheter in Q2,” CEO Geoff Martha said on an earnings call.

“That said, our overall cash growth did not accelerate as expected this quarter due to a third-party component supplier interruption. They've now expanded capacity, allowing us to continue to ramp PulseSelect availability and activate new accounts,” Martha added.

“We've been significantly expanding our manufacturing capacity to meet this growing demand and we're well positioned as the only company with both single shot and focal PFA catheters,” he said, referring to the FDA’s October approval of its Affera system and Sphere-9 catheter.

Meanwhile, Medtronic’s neuroscience portfolio—covering neuromodulation as well as cranial, spinal and specialty therapies—saw its revenues grow 7.1% to $2.45 billion.

In September, the company presented a preliminary update from its ongoing, at-home trial of people with Parkinson’s disease being treated with adaptive deep brain stimulation, while the technology is under review at the FDA.

In medical and surgical tools, including endoscopy as well as acute care and patient monitoring, sales were up 1.2% to $2.13 billion. On the investor call, Martha said the company’s Hugo surgical robot has gathered the data necessary to support an FDA application in urology—with the submission slated for the first three months of 2025—while Medtronic continues to enroll patients in studies within gynecology and hernia repair.

In diabetes, $686 million in revenue amounted to a 12.4% boost, with the MiniMed 780G automated insulin delivery system also pushing sales of continuous glucose monitors.

“Our CGM sales grew over 20% in both the U.S. and international markets, driven by the high CGM attachment rates to the 780G,” Martha said. “In addition, our Simplera Sync sensor, which is half the size and much easier to apply than our previous sensor, is gaining strong acceptance in international markets.”

Finally, the company tightened up the lower end of its 2025 fiscal year projections, moving from a range of 4.5% to 5% up to 4.75% to 5%.