AngioDynamics (ANGO): Blood lines

For AngioDynamics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANGO), access is everything. Its many medical devices enter your arterial network and wriggle on through the veins, pinpointing damage along the way. They may remove a varicose vein here, insert a post-surgical drain there, or vaporize an aberrant tumor here, there or most anywhere.   

AngioDynamics supplies radiologists, surgeons, and other physicians with devices for the minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment of cancer and peripheral vascular disease (PVD). The company is positioned to take advantage of the nascent PVD market and — through a recent acquisition — the promising interventional oncology market.

Canaccord Adams analyst Jason Mills estimates that more than 11 million Americans suffer from PVD — often characterized by a narrowing of vessels that carry blood to the legs, arms and certain organs. As people age, vascular problems accelerate. Growth of the multi-billion dollar PVD medical device market is expected at 8% to 10% annually.

Grab your Wikipedia. Mills says AngioDynamics’ portfolio of diagnostic, therapeutic and drug-delivery catheters targets several key PVD sectors, including angiography (imaging/diagnostics), image-guided vascular access (imaging and drug-delivery of chemotherapy drugs for cancer patients), venous disease (therapeutic ablation), thrombus removal (therapeutic drug delivery), hemodialysis catheters and interventional oncology (radiofrequency tumor ablation, resection, drug delivery).

If you followed that, you are ready for AngioDynamics’ kicker: RITA Medical Systems. RITA, purchased by AngioDynamics at the end of January 2007 for $220 million, specializes in radiofrequency ablation — a treatment option for patients with liver tumors and painful metastatic bone tumors. It is a medical technology that uses heat to destroy tumors in a less invasive way than traditional methods.

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