The Las Vegas casinos were teeming with activity last week, but the true bets from orthopedic surgeons who descended upon the city during the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) weren’t originating from the tables in their hotel lobbies. Smart money was being placed on what would happen regarding the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR). Ultimately the House would overwhelmingly pass the bill. But the Senate went into recess before making a final vote. For the uninitiated, in 1997, Congress adopted the SGR formula as part of the Balanced Budget Act. The idea was to control federal health care spending....
While orthopedic implant maker Stryker (Kalamazoo, Michigan) said today that it did not intend to make an offer for Smith & Nephew (S&N; London) after a report in the Financial Times forced its hand, it seems likely that such a union for S&N with Stryker or another willing partner is inevitable. Stryker responded at the request of the UK Takeover Panel and confirmed that the company does not intend to make an offer for S&N. Post this announcement, UK takeover rules now prohibit Stryker from making a bid for S&N for six...
Change is what the American public was promised (or some might say threatened with) during the 2008 presidential election and for better or worse, the healthcare industry worldwide has been served an extra large helping of that change over the past six years. While the medical device industry’s palate has reacted to most of that change the way a five-year-old reacts to Brussels sprouts, this year’s menu does appear to be more appetizing. In March, two competing companies filed IPO papers on the same day. TriVascular Technologies and Lombard Medical Technologies both sell devices to treat abdominal aortic aneurysms. TriVascular...
It is fall here in the U.S. and, for many Americans, that time of year brings cooler weather and football. Apologies to our non-U.S. readers, I realize that you have ownership on “real” football, and our version is secular at best. But, hey, football is ours and we sure do like it. It is during this time I like to reflect and “brag” that I have something in common with arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks to play the game – certainly in the modern era. You see, Peyton Manning and I share a common bond. No, my father...
Chilling. It isn’t often that a bit of news is a perfect fit to that one-word description, but the recent decision by a Los Angeles jury in the first case to be decided pitting Johnson & Johnson (J&J; New Brunswick, New Jersey) against what is a cast of thousands of litigants is nothing short of that. Oh sure, there’s the usual post-decision posturing by the company per appealing the $8.3 million-plus jury award, but c’mon folks, the implications of this case for the medical-products giant – and truly for all other companies trying to do business in the med-tech space...
Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Pete O'Heeron, CEO of a private company called SpinalCyte, a company developing an application to treat degenerative disc disease using cells derived from human skin for the Nov. 9th edition of Medical Device Daily . O'Heeron was especially enthusiastic about the application, which would promote autologous regrowth of the spinal disc nucleus using human dermal fibroblasts (HDF). If such a technology could garner approval, it could potentially replace implants in patients. Although, this has only been test in animal models - the technology holds great promise. I think this story was right on...
I have been reporting medical technology news for close to six years and one thing that has consistently amazed me during that time has been the fact that simplicity often beats bells and whistles. The most recent example of this is the newly launched Kickstart Kinetic Orthosis from Cadence Biomedical (Seattle), a wearable device designed to help people with weakened muscles or disabilities regain mobility and independence. Amazingly, this new device was inspired by the anatomy of horses. It turns out a researcher from the Cleveland...
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