ALGN vs EW

Align Technology Inc.

Align Technology, Inc., a medical device company, designs, manufactures, and markets Invisalign clear aligners and iTero intraoral scanners and services for orthodontists and general practitioner dentists, and restorative and aesthetic dentistry. It operates in two segments, Clear Aligner; and Scanners and Services. The Clear Aligner segment consists of comprehensive products, including Invisalign comprehensive treatment that addresses the orthodontic needs of teenage patients, such as mandibular advancement, compliance indicators, and compensation for tooth eruption; and Invisalign First Phase I and Invisalign First Comprehensive Phase 2 package for younger patients generally between the ages of seven and ten years, which is a mixture of primary/baby and permanent teeth. This segment's non-comprehensive products comprise Invisalign moderate, lite and express packages, and Invisalign go; and non-case products include retention products, Invisalign training fees, and sales of ancillary products, such as cleaning material, and adjusting tools used by dental professionals during the course of treatment. The Scanners and Services segment offers iTero scanner, a single hardware platform with software options for restorative or orthodontic procedures; restorative software for general practitioner dentists, prosthodontists, periodontists, and oral surgeons; and software for orthodontists for digital records storage, orthodontic diagnosis, and for the fabrication of printed models and retainers. This segment also provides computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing services; ancillary products, such as disposable sleeves for the wand; iTero model and dies; third party scanners and digital scans; Invisalign outcome simulator, a chair-side and cloud-based application for the iTero scanner; Invisalign progress assessment tool; and TimeLapse technology, which allows doctors or practitioners to compare a patient's historic 3D scans to the present-day scan. The company sells its products in the United States, Switzerland, China, and internationally. Align Technology, Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona.

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation provides products and technologies for structural heart disease, and critical care and surgical monitoring in the United States, Europe, Japan, and internationally. It offers transcatheter heart valve replacement products for the minimally invasive replacement of heart valves; and transcatheter heart valve repair and replacement products to treat mitral and tricuspid valve diseases. The company also provides surgical heart valve therapy products, such as pericardial valves for aortic and mitral surgical valve replacement; aortic heart valves; annuloplasty rings; cardiac cannula devices; beating heart mitral valve repair system for the treatment of degenerative mitral regurgitation, as well as various procedure-enabling platforms to advance minimally invasive surgery. In addition, it offers critical care products, such as hemodynamic monitoring systems to measure a patient's heart function and fluid status in surgical and intensive care settings; pulmonary artery catheters; arterial pressure monitoring products, oximetry central venous catheters, as well as monitoring platforms that display a patient's physiological information; and Acumen Hypotension Prediction Index, which alerts clinicians in advance of a patient developing low blood pressure. The company distributes its products through a direct sales force and independent distributors. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.