Medical Devices Today

Wireless and Mobile Monitoring: Bringing Health Care Home

Article preview from Medtech Insight - March 01, 2011

The recent proliferation of smart phones and mobile apps has put everything from face-to-face meetings to comparison shopping into the palms of our hands. Wireless technology is changing the way we communicate and do business, and proponents say it could soon have a similar game-changing impact on health care. Indeed, hundreds of mobile health apps are already available for relatively simple tasks such as logging and tracking blood pressure measurements, caloric intake, and sleep habits, but this is only the beginning of what could be a pervasive and increasingly sophisticated technology trend in the years ahead.

Magnetecs Corp.

Article preview from Start-Up - March 01, 2011

Check off electromagnetism as another in a long line of technologies used extensively by the defense industry that has now found favor in medical application. The Catheter Guidance Control and Imaging system from Magnetecs Corp. navigates a catheter tip via electromagnetic technology to better target radiofrequency ablation therapy during cardiology-electrophysiology procedures. The company believes its real-time navigational system offers a rapid, safe and accurate means of treating cardiac rhythm disturbances in a manner that heretofore has not been available.

Cameron Health: Is This The Cure For An Ailing ICD Market?

Article preview from IN VIVO - March 01, 2011

Ten years ago, the ICD market was booming, now it's not, despite studies that show the device is underutilized. The increasing complexity of CRM devices, and in particular ICDs, has brought a host of problems - including major product recalls that in turn have created caution on the part of patients - and has done little to grow the market beyond single digits in recent years. Cameron Health believes it has the answer for a truly disruptive ICD with a contrarian twist: a simpler device that addresses major problems such as lead failures, inappropriate shocks, and the burdens of complexity.

Device Payments Mostly Steady In Medicare Inpatient Proposal

Article preview from "The Gray Sheet"- April 25, 2011

Hospitals would see, on average, a small reduction in Medicare reimbursement for inpatient services next year, based on CMS' fiscal 2012 payment proposal, but it is not expected to have a significant impact on overall device pricing or adoption.

Breast Cancer Detection: New Technologies Push the Envelope

Article preview from Medtech Insight - March 01, 2011

Technologies for breast cancer detection are evolving rapidly as manufacturers work to push the diagnostic envelope beyond standard screening mammography, ultrasound technology, and magnetic resonance imaging. At two recent meetings, the November 2010 meeting of the Radiology Society of North America and the March 2011 meeting of the European Congress of Radiology, several presentations focused on the latest research and technology developments in breast cancer detection.

Device IPO Class of 2007 Making News, Some Returns

Article preview from Start-Up - March 01, 2011

The merger of Accuray and TomoTherapy would combine two of the 11 medical device companies that went public in 2007, a class of companies that has produced mixed results.

Rox Gets Blood Pumping in COPD

Article preview from IN VIVO - March 01, 2011

Rox Medical is taking an unusual approach to treating COPD by introducing a vascular device that increases oxygen delivery to tissue and cardiac output. The potential has investors' hearts racing as well.

FDA Funds To Rise Despite Widespread Reductions In 2011 Appropriations

Article preview from "The Gray Sheet"- April 18, 2011

Despite a $37.6 billion overall cut in federal government domestic spending, a compromise fiscal 2011 funding agreement gives FDA about $107 million more dollars, totaling about $2.46 billion, compared to 2010.

Device Companies and GPOs: Is a Battle Looming?

Article preview from Medtech Insight - March 01, 2011

This February, Medtronic. announced it was canceling five cardiovascular and orthopedic contracts-reported to be worth $2 billion a year-with GPO Novation, which negotiates deals on behalf of more than 1,600 hospitals. The action has the potential to change how product contracts with hospitals are negotiated, but at this point, it is hard to say if it represents a burgeoning trend that others will follow or just another mêlée in the long history of turbulent device manufacturer/GPO relations.

US Markets for Peripheral Stents Get AAA Rating

Article preview from Start-Up - March 01, 2011

According to "US Markets for Peripheral Vascular Stents," a report recently published by the Medtech Insight division of Elsevier Business Intelligence, the peripheral vascular stent market yielded more than $1 billion in revenues in the US in 2009, and will continue to grow at an overall rate of 7.2% in coming years, with some product segments growing even faster. Stents for carotid arteries are expected to yield a 36.5% annual compound growth rate through 2014 and endovascular products for the repair of aortic aneurysms (AAA) will grow by 8.4%, according to the Medtech Insight report. AAA endografts accounted for 43.7% of peripheral vascular stent sales last year.