egnite Grant Winner to Present M-TEER Durability Study at TCT 2026
egnite, Inc. has named Dr. John T. Saxon of University of Virginia (UVA) Health the winner of its inaugural Call for Science grant program. His study on long-term durability after successful mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (M-TEER) will be presented as Featured Clinical Research at TCT 2026 in San Diego.
- Dr. John T. Saxon of UVA Health won egnite's inaugural Call for Science grant.
- His M-TEER durability study is slated as Featured Clinical Research at TCT 2026 in San Diego on October 31, 2026.
- The analysis covers approximately 6,000+ M-TEER patients, with more than 2,000 successful procedures followed for up to three years.
- The egnite Registry includes de-identified data from approximately 14 million patients and 6 million echocardiograms.
What the study examines
The study is titled Long-Term Durability After Successful M-TEER: Insights from a Large, Real-World Imaging Database. According to egnite, it will be presented at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2026 conference on October 31, 2026, at 11:15 a.m. PT.
Dr. Saxon, who directs the Advanced Cardiac Valve Center at UVA Health, drew on approximately 6,000+ patients who underwent M-TEER. More than 2,000 of them had successful procedures and were followed for up to three years. Serial echocardiograms and clinical outcomes were used to measure device durability and its effect on patients.
The data come from the egnite Registry, which contributed de-identified, longitudinal data linking serial echocardiograms with clinical outcomes.
The gap in long-term evidence
According to the company, durability matters more as M-TEER expands into lower-risk populations, yet long-term outcomes after an initially successful procedure remain poorly characterized. Answering the question requires linking how the device performs over time with what happens to the patient, and few data sources do both.
Dr. Saxon described the limits of existing sources. "Procedural registries, like the Transcatheter Valve Therapy (TVT) Registry, are excellent at defining short- and intermediate-term outcomes but lack longer-term data on recurrent mitral regurgitation (MR) and long-term treatment failure," he said. Claims data from Medicare and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) databases, he said, are excellent at defining long-term survival but do not capture long-term device durability.
In his view, the egnite Registry can bridge that gap, with long-term data on both survival and device performance via serial echocardiograms. That, he said, "allows us to model the impact of MR recurrence on clinical outcomes."
About the Call for Science program
The 2026 Call for Science is egnite's first open call for research ideas through an investigator-initiated study (IIS) grant. It invited U.S.-based researchers to submit original proposals using the egnite Registry. The winning proposal receives dedicated data science support and analysis from egnite's data science team.
The registry includes de-identified data from approximately 14 million patients and 6 million echocardiograms. Michael Dobbles, Chief Data Officer at egnite, said the goal was "to put the egnite Registry to work on the questions the field most needs answered." He called Dr. Saxon's study "a direct contribution to the patient outcomes and durability conversation happening across structural heart right now."
About the researcher and the company
Dr. Saxon is also Associate Professor of Medicine at UVA Health. He specializes in transcatheter aortic, mitral, tricuspid and pulmonary valve therapies, and has published on structural heart interventions in journals including JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions and Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions.
egnite, based in Aliso Viejo, California, describes itself as a technology company advancing guideline-directed cardiovascular care and real-world evidence. Its CardioCare platform is deployed across 1,200 cardiovascular care facilities, including more than 80 heart surgery centers.
What it means
The study offers an example of independent researchers applying their own clinical questions to a large real-world imaging dataset. For clinicians and device makers watching M-TEER move into lower-risk patients, it points to follow-up data on recurrent mitral regurgitation and treatment failure, areas the researcher says existing registries and claims data do not fully cover. The source does not report the study's findings, which are due at the TCT presentation.
