Dr. Ken Stein: Yes. Thanks, Josh. And again, we’re very excited about FARAPULSE as it stands today. So, we have disclosed, we do have a next generation of FARAWAVE catheter, right, which is the ablation catheter part of the FARAPULSE system that will include an embedded NAV sensor that will work with a novel iteration to the arrhythmia software that we’re calling FARAVIEW that we do have targeted for year-end of 2024. And our goal here really, Josh, is, I said, we’re never going to compel people to use arrhythmia if they want to use FARAPULSE, but we’re going to make the FARAWAVE and FARAVIEW system compelling for physicians to use. And there are really some very novel things that we’re able to do with that system combination that we believe is going to improve physician workflow and hopefully lead to even better patient outcomes with the combined system, even on top of the great outcomes that we saw in ADVENT.
Josh Jennings: Great. Thanks a lot.
Operator: The next question is from the line of Chris Pasquale with Nephron Research. Please go ahead.
ChrisPasquale: Thanks. I had a follow-up for Dr. Stein on AGENT. The results were certainly impressive versus PTA, but it was noted from the podium that about 85% of ISR cases in the US today are being treated with drug-eluting stents. So, do you have plans to follow up the IDE study with a randomized trial versus DES? And maybe just some thoughts on how you see AGENT fitting into the treatment paradigm versus that standard of care.
Dr. Ken Stein: Yes, Chris, I’m not going to get into what our post-approval research strategy is going to look like. I think that there’s a lot to be learned when you see how drug-coated balloons are used in Japan and how they’re used in Europe today, right? And patients with in-stent restenosis have failed the stent. And fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I don’t think that there are a lot of physicians who want to be putting additional foreign objects into someone who’s already had in-stent restenosis. So, we really believe the results that we saw with AGENT are compelling and compelling enough to move the vast majority of interventionalists to use AGENT in place of either Plano balloon angioplasty or in place of, again, yet another stent in the in-stent restenosis area.
I think the only other thing I’ll say is, clearly there are a lot of potential indications for the use of the AGENT product beyond in-stent restenosis, and we’ll certainly be looking at research into all of those as we get beyond approval and use for the first indication.
ChrisPasquale: That’s helpful. Thanks.
Operator: The next question is from the line of Mike Polark with Wolfe Research. Please go ahead.
Mike Polark: Good morning. Thank you for taking the question. I have a question on price-cost. On price, the message has been historically we were kind of a little negative. We’ve moved it at the portfolio level to neutral. As we jump into 2024, what’s a good base case? Neutral, again, a little up, a little down. On the cost side, kind of where are you seeing opportunities, raw materials, freight, labor, where are you seeing tensions? And then the last piece of this is, one of your large competitors did announce an inventory obsolescence charge this quarter. I think we all can see that inventories for the sector overall are quite higher than they used to be because of the COVID stresses and strains. Can I get an update on Boston’s status on inventory? Thank you.
Dan Brennan: Sure, Mike. Happy to. A lot in that question. So, on the pricing, historically, we’ve been in that kind of very low single-digit decline for many years. We’re starting to envision a world where we could be flat. So, that’s a goal of ours as we go forward over the LRP to get to flat pricing, which obviously helps revenue and helps all the way down through the rest of the P&L. On the cost side, as you look at the traditional areas that we’ve talked about that have been impacted over the past couple of years, when you take freight, I’d say that’s gotten better, but it’s certainly not back to where it was. So, I’d say improving, but still elevated. And obviously, the conflict in the Middle East has us focused on fuel and oil, as that runs the risk of increasing off of that.
The inflation impact on our direct material costs, again, I would say, this seems – we’re seeing signs of that stabilizing over time, but it’s absolutely elevated from where it was. So, we still do see impact there. And then the consistency of supply, it’s not fully back to normal again, but it has improved. So, we’re optimistic about the future that we see a better macro environment for cost of goods in that category, but we’re not there yet, is what I would say. And then relative to inventory, yes, I mean, I would say, we’ve been building inventory over the last two or three years, right? Our back order has been elevated higher than we have liked. The team’s done a great job over the last 12 months of getting that more in line with where you’ve been historically.
So, I would not point to EE&O charges from our perspective as a big driver because we’re still a bid and catch-up mode and making sure that we have the right amount of inventory to supply. So, I think we’re focused on having the right inventory, but we’re not at the point where we have too much inventory.
Operator: Mr. Polark, have you finished with your questions?
Mike Polark: Yes. Thank you.
Lauren Tengler: Yes. Can we take the last question?
Operator: The next – our last question comes from the line of Matthew O’Brien with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.
Matthew O’Brien: Morning. Thanks for squeezing me in here. I know you guys are a domestic company, but the performance in EMEA and APAC specifically were notable, and specifically APAC was really, really strong this quarter. Can you just give us a little more sense for – because I think those two collectively were roughly half your growth this quarter. The durability of the performance in those geographies, is it a function of just more and more products into those areas, and so that’s pretty straightforward, or is it share taking that’s required, or what’s really required to continue to deliver, maybe not this level of growth, which is really strong again, but a very strong growth going forward where that’s a significant contributor to the topline for 2024, 2025 and beyond? Thanks.
Mike Mahoney: Sure. Yes, starting with Europe is really not a – thankfully, it’s not a new phenomenon for our team in Europe, which we also were referencing. Middle East, Africa, last year they grew 12%, and they’re on track to grow another double digits again in 2023. So, the European team, it’s really a combination clearly of share-taking given the markets aren’t growing double digits in Europe. And our European team has benefited from the portfolio of having many of the product launches that were talked about for second half of 2024 in the US already in that marketplace. So, they’re doing an excellent job of launching our innovative products, taking share in the more developed western European markets, and also building a pretty significant capability in the appropriate emerging markets in Europe.
That also grows double digits. So, the team’s just done a really nice job of executing and driving our innovation with the launches. Asia Pac had another strong quarter this year. That region also will grow double digits, grew double digits last year and double digits again this year. And I would say, the new news here is really just the strength of Japan is excellent in the quarter, and we expect another strong quarter for them in the fourth quarter. Again, it’s all back to our people and our portfolio, and the team in Japan launching POLARx AGENT, AVVIGO will be the next platform to launch in Japan. So, that team’s done a really nice job. In China, I was just there for about a week, and that team continues to grow nicely, strong double digits, despite all the challenges that are well known in the marketplace, again, based on the strength of our portfolio, some of the alliances that we’re doing, and our team in China is quite strong.
