If someone would have asked me three years ago what Necrotizing enterocolitis (or NEC for short) meant, then my response would probably be a blank stare, followed by I'll have to get back to you on that. That's often the reply I give to people when I'm not sure of an answer. But if someone were to ask me today what NEC means, the answer would probably be a bit different. I think the first thing I'd say is, "Well how much time do you have for me to answer that question honestly?" For simplicity's sake, we can just say...

It’s doubtful that Britney Spears’ 12-year-old hit single, Oops! . . . I did it again, entered into Roche’s mind when the firm disclosed a hostile takeover bid to acquire Illumina late last month for $44.50 a share in cash, or about $5.7 billion. Okay,  maybe doubtful isn’t the right word. Maybe I should say that there was no chance in the world that Roche even considered this song when describing its takeover bid. But to those who have followed Roche closely throughout the past few years, the song seems to fit Roche’s attempts to acquire the DNA sequencing company...

Ah, modern medical imaging. You can bet your car payment that I get a lot of mileage out of medical imaging as the Washington editor for Medical Device Daily. All those cuts under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 have just littered the Washington roundup practically since the day I took this job. What's not to like? Still, imaging is not just another pretty face or another bunch of pretty pictures, as the doctors like to say. There's some real substance to modern imaging technology beyond providing the occasional nutcase at...

Earlier this year GE Healthcare established its first global Pathology Imaging Centre of Excellence (PICE) in Toronto, Ontario. GE and its digital pathology joint venture, Omnyx, will invest $7.75 million along with a $2.25 million grant from the Health Technology Commercialization Program created by Ontario’s Health Technology Exchange and funded by the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation. Planned collaborative R&D partnerships are expected to bring an additional $7.2 million, for a total investment of $17.2 million over the next three years. Considering GE is a massive global corporation with locations all over the world and its JV Omnyx is...

By JIM STOMMEN, Medical Device Daily Contributing Writer  The arguments going on these days over the prostate cancer screening test known as prostate-specific antigen (PSA for short) might make one think that there’s something wrong with the test itself. Not so. The argument by what we will refer to as the “anti” side of the issue is with what happens after the routine blood test comes back with a positive finding. Those folks, who go by the name U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, maintain that the PSA test leads to demonstrative levels of over-treatment, doing so to such an extent...

Those in the business of therapeutic or diagnostic devices know how quickly things can change, so let's take a quick look at a few stories that appeared in Medical Device Daily in August 2009. After all, two years are less than the average time needed to get a patent through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which is another story. Aug. 12, 2009: Schultz out at CDRH; Shuren to serve as interim director On Aug. 11, 2009, the Internet was abuzz with reports that Dan Schultz, MD, had stepped...

My little West Central Illinois town got hit with a thunderstorm a couple nights ago. Even though my 3-year-old son handles storms exceptionally well for his age, I decided around 2 a.m. I needed to peek in his room to make sure he was okay. To my surprise, I found him lying in bed awake. I asked if the storm was keeping him awake. “No. I’m sick,” he said. Sure enough, a quick touch of his forehead and cheeks told me he had a fever – and probably a rather high one at that. But to determine how bad it...

Much to my annoyance, I’ve often been mistaken for being younger than my actual age. At 24 I could not buy a lottery ticket without being carded (even though 18 is the legal age for that in my state). A few years ago a 14-year-old neighbor girl spotted me in the front yard and asked what school I attended because she thought we were the same age. And just a few months ago my son and I both received a kids’ menu at Perkins when the hostess mistook me for 12 or under. And for as long as I can...

When one thinks about countries that are hotbeds for medical technology innovation, Israel would not likely be at the top of anyone’s list. But people in the know will tell you that this small country, with a population of just a shade over 7.5 million people, has a reputation for being a tireless innovator in the field, with countries from all over the world flocking there to study their business model. According to the Israeli Life Science Industry, an advocacy group, the med-tech industry is also young and growing. Of the currently operating 702 companies, 56% were founded during the...