Medical Devices News and Research

RSS

Camera-phone uses blood, saliva samples to diagnose disease

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a "prototype camera-phone mounted with a microscope" that can "magnify and photograph blood or saliva samples" for diagnosing diseases, the Canadian Press/Google.com reports.

22 Jul 2009

Lawsuits allege some medical device companies gave kickbacks to surgeons

Whistleblowers allege in lawsuits unsealed Wednesday that some medical device companies gave kickbacks to heart surgeons to get the doctors to use their products to treat a heart condition, The Wall Street Journal reports.

16 Jul 2009

J & J: hospital deal will hurt medical device sales

The CFO for Johnson & Johnson's said President Obama's deal with hospitals to cut Medicare costs will reduce the sales of medical devices, Bloomberg reports: "Hospitals buy medical devices, including J&J’s artificial hips and stents to prop open clogged arteries, directly from the manufacturer, (Johnson and Johnson CFO Dominic) Caruso said today in an interview with Bloomberg News.

15 Jul 2009

Medicare fraud taints California device maker and New Jersey clinic

A California device maker settles a Medicare fraud case while a New Jersey doctor and his office manager are accused in a Medicare fraud scheme.

15 Jul 2009

Senate panel looks to health insurers for health savings

"U.S. health insurers were in talks with the Senate Finance Committee Monday to discuss how to save the Medicare program $100 billion over a decade, a source familiar with the talks said," Reuters reports.

14 Jul 2009

AbbeyMoor receives approval for design improvements to ‘The Spanner’ prostatic stent

AbbeyMoor Medical Inc., a developer and manufacturer of medical devices for the management and treatment of prostatic obstruction, announced today that it has received PMA approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for design changes to their flagship product, The Spanner Prostatic Stent.

7 Jul 2009

The Federal Government should have limited, but crucial, role in comparative effectiveness

Federal officials are expected to offer recommendations this month on one of the first installments of health reform - a new initiative to compare the value and merits of competing medical treatments.

18 Jun 2009

Medical schools improve conflict of interest policies, but widespread problems remain

According to the latest ratings of two watchdog groups, medical schools are "improving their conflict-of-interest policies to police their ties with drug and medical-device makers. But more than half the schools still have inadequate policies or no policies at all," the Wall Street Journal's Health Blog reports.

18 Jun 2009

Plant microbe shares features with drug-resistant pathogen - implications for biotech

An international team of scientists has discovered extensive similarities between a strain of bacteria commonly associated with plants and one increasingly linked to opportunistic infections in hospital patients. The findings suggest caution in the use of the plant-associated strain for a range of biotech applications. The genetic analysis was conducted in part at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, and will be published in the July 2009 issue of Nature Reviews Microbiology, now available online.

16 Jun 2009

Comparative effectiveness tested in diabetes study, VA records release

A study in the New England Journal of Medicine has found common surgical interventions and stents, the expensive medical devices used in bypass surgeries, are no more effective at preventing death, heart attacks and strokes in diabetic patients than less expensive drugs, the Wall Street Journal reports. The study, which included 2,368 patients, is representative of new interest in head-to-head comparisons of treatments.

9 Jun 2009

FDA moves towards greater openness

The Associated Press reports that FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg "announced Tuesday she has created a task force to make recommendations on how the agency can release more information in such areas as drug evaluation and enforcement matters. She wants a report in six months."

3 Jun 2009

Researchers discover six new genome sequences and fundamental insights to the Candida fungus family

An international research collaboration coordinated by UCD researchers and involving scientists at 21 institutes including the genome sequencing centres in the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK and the Broad Institute at MIT and Harvard, USA have defined six new genome sequences in the Candida fungus family and identified genetic differences in species that cause disease.

25 May 2009

President Obama reverses Bush policy preventing consumers from suing product makers in State courts

President Obama on Wednesday ordered federal agencies to rescind regulations enacted by former President George W. Bush's administration that protect manufacturers of such products as medical devices from product-liability lawsuits in state court, the Wall Street Journal reports.

22 May 2009

Vermont Legislature passes law regulating all drug/device company marketing, requiring disclosure of gifts to doctors

The Vermont Legislature has passed legislation (S 48) that bans nearly all gifts from pharmaceutical and medical device companies to health care providers, administrators and facilities in the state, the New York Times reports.

20 May 2009

Health Subcommittee considers bill to eliminate pre-emption for medical devices

The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee on Tuesday heard testimony on the Medical Device Safety Act of 2009 (HR 1346), which would allow consumers to sue medical device manufacturers in state courts, CQ HealthBeat reports.

14 May 2009

From implantable devices to electric vehicles, UB Professor focuses on power sources

A University at Buffalo professor who has garnered more than 140 patents for power sources for tiny biomedical devices now is working to develop batteries that could power much larger devices, such as electric vehicles.

13 May 2009

Health industry groups pledge to reduce spending; some health advocates express skepticism about plan

As President Obama on Monday met with health care industry groups regarding their pledge to reduce $2 trillion in expected health care spending increases over the next 10 years, many health care advocates expressed skepticism about the promise, the Hartford Courant reports (Levick, Hartford Courant, 5/12).

12 May 2009

Researchers develop a dynamic heart system

A new machine developed at North Carolina State University makes an animal heart pump much like a live heart after it has been removed from the animal's body, allowing researchers to expedite the development of new tools and techniques for heart surgery.

12 May 2009

Health industry members vow to reduce spending by $2 trillion over next 10 years; savings could help finance reform

Leading health care industry groups on Monday are expected to pledge to President Obama that they will attempt to reduce $2 trillion in expected health care spending increases over the next 10 years, Obama administration officials said on Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reports (Adamy, Wall Street Journal, 5/11).

12 May 2009

Supporters, opponents of comparative effectiveness research 'gearing up' to clash over planned efforts, New York Times reports

The Obama administration is poised to enter the "same medical minefield" that 15 years ago resulted in unsuccessful federal efforts to develop guidelines for physicians in identifying cost-efficient and effective treatments for common medical conditions, the New York Times reports.

7 May 2009

Medical Devices News and Research

Camera-phone uses blood, saliva samples to diagnose disease

Lawsuits allege some medical device companies gave kickbacks to surgeons

J & J: hospital deal will hurt medical device sales

Medicare fraud taints California device maker and New Jersey clinic

Senate panel looks to health insurers for health savings

AbbeyMoor receives approval for design improvements to ‘The Spanner’ prostatic stent

The Federal Government should have limited, but crucial, role in comparative effectiveness

Medical schools improve conflict of interest policies, but widespread problems remain

Plant microbe shares features with drug-resistant pathogen - implications for biotech

Comparative effectiveness tested in diabetes study, VA records release

FDA moves towards greater openness

Researchers discover six new genome sequences and fundamental insights to the Candida fungus family

President Obama reverses Bush policy preventing consumers from suing product makers in State courts

Vermont Legislature passes law regulating all drug/device company marketing, requiring disclosure of gifts to doctors

Health Subcommittee considers bill to eliminate pre-emption for medical devices

From implantable devices to electric vehicles, UB Professor focuses on power sources

Health industry groups pledge to reduce spending; some health advocates express skepticism about plan

Researchers develop a dynamic heart system

Health industry members vow to reduce spending by $2 trillion over next 10 years; savings could help finance reform

Supporters, opponents of comparative effectiveness research 'gearing up' to clash over planned efforts, New York Times reports

Industry Focus eBook - Medical Devices (3rd Edition) eBook

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

Latest News