Home »
Welcome: Login | Register

Abiomed swings to 2011 black on record Q4 revenues | Earnings Roundup

May 16, 2012 by MassDevice staff

Abiomed marks its 1st profitable year in the last 15 years, touting record Q4 sales of its Impella heart pump and setting off a Wall Street roller coaster; plus, Electromed takes a heavy hit on reimbursement challenges; Bovie touts strong sales growth, shrinking profits; Cambridge Heart spends another quarter in the red; Echo Therapeutics narrows losses amid shrinking sales; and InVivo jumps into the black.

Abiomed logo

Abiomed (NSDQ:ABMD) set off a Wall Street roller coaster with its latest earnings release, in which the Danvers, Mass.-based heart pump maker posted its 1st profitable year in a decade and a half.

The 3 months ended March 31 made up Abiomed's "best quarter and year in company history, in terms of number of patients supported, revenue growth, and profitability," chairman, president & CEO Michael Minogue said in prepared remarks.

News Well, 2012, MassDevice Earnings Roundup, Q1, Wall Street Beat

MassDevice.com +3 | The top 3 med-tech stories for May 16, 2012.

May 16, 2012 by MassDevice staff

The U.S. Justice Dept. closes a years-long probe into Medtronic's controversial Infuse bone growth protein, weight-loss surgeries may trigger a rare metabolic wasting disease and the renal denervation space becomes a battle ground for med-tech titans vying for rank.

Plus 3

Say hello to MassDevice +3, a bite-sized view of the top three med-tech stories of the day. This feature of MassDevice.com's coverage highlights our 3 biggest and most influential stories from the day's news to make sure you're up to date on the headlines that continue to shape the medical device industry.

If you read nothing else today, make sure you're still in the know with MassDevice +3.

Legal News, News Well, Plus 3, Renal, Resorbable bone materials, Weight loss

Justice Dept. closes criminal, civil probe into Medtronic's Infuse

May 16, 2012 by MassDevice staff

The U.S. Justice Dept. closes its years-long criminal and civil investigation into Medtronic's controversial Infuse bone growth protein.

Medtronic logo

The U.S. Justice Dept. closed the books on a years-long investigation into Medtronic's (NYSE:MDT) controversial Infuse bone growth protein, the company announced today.

The office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts and the DoJ abandoned their civil and criminal probe into allegations of off-label marketing and concealed safety risks without finding evidence of wrongdoing, according to a press release.

Legal News, News Well, Resorbable bone materials, Spinal

Medtronic and St. Jude battle it out on a new frontier: High blood pressure

May 16, 2012 by Arezu Sarvestani

Medtronic scoffs at St. Jude Medical's claims that its Enlightn renal denervation system lowers blood pressure faster than Medtronic's Symplicity, calling them "interesting" but merely "hypothesis-generating."

Medtronic logo
St. Jude Medical logo
News Well, Clinical Trials, Renal

Funding R&D: High prices, overuse a failed strategy

May 16, 2012 by MassDevice

By Merrill Goozner

Merrill Goozner

Much has been written about the travails of the pharmaceutical industry. Generic competition is reducing profitability as leading blockbuster drugs like Pfizer's Lipitor lose patent protection. Biotech generic competition is on the horizon.

News Well, Funding Roundup, Pharmaceuticals, Research & Development

EuroPCR: Disappearing stents and bioabsorbable polymers

May 16, 2012 by MassDevice staff

Disappearing stent technology makes waves at this year's EuroPCR conference in Paris, with Elixir Medial touting its fully bioabsorbable coronary scaffold and Terumo and Biotronik unveiling results for their stents with a bioerodable polymer coatings.

EuroPCR logo

Disappearing technology had a strong presence at this year's EuroPCR conference in Paris, with rival device makers demonstrating the safety and efficacy of their next-generation stents.

Elixir Medical unveiled 1st-in-man clinical results for its DESolve fully bioabsorbable drug-eluting scaffold system, a stent made from a proprietary polymer and coated in novolimus. The entire stent is designed to be absorbed by the body in 1-2 years.

News Well, Clinical Trials, Bioabsorbable Stents, Drug-Eluting Stents, Research & Development

EuroPCR: St. Jude's Enlightn lowers blood pressure faster than rival systems

May 16, 2012 by MassDevice staff

St. Jude Medical's newly CE Marked Enlightn renal denervation system boasts twice the reduction in blood pressure after 1 month compared with rival technologies.

St. Jude Medical logo

St. Jude Medical's (NYSE:STJ) newly cleared Enlightn renal denervation system lowered patients' blood pressure by twice as much as rival systems in the same amount of time, according to a new study.

Preliminary findings from a study of the Enlightn system found that patients with hypertension saw a 28 point reduction in blood pressure after 30 days.

News Well, Clinical Trials, Renal, Research & Development

EuroPCR: Warnings on TAVI in replacing surgically implanted prosthetic valves

May 16, 2012 by MassDevice staff

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation proves successful in reinforcing failed valve prosthetics, but researchers warn against making it a common practice.

EuroPCR logo

Although patients may benefit from having a failed aortic valve prosthetic reinforced via transcatheter aortic valve implantation, researchers warned against making the procedure a common practice.

News Well, Clinical Trials, Replacement Heart Valves, Research & Development

EuroPCR: Medtronic touts clearances and findings for its stents and balloons

May 16, 2012 by MassDevice staff

Medtronic touts new clearances for its Resolute Integrity stent and clinical findings for its In.Pact balloons and hints of more studies to be revealed later this week at the EuroPCR conference in Paris.

EuroPCR

Medical device titan Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) touted a string of new indications for its Resolute Integrity drug-eluting stents at this year's EuroPCR meeting in Paris.

With new clearances in hand, the Resolute Integrity stent is now the DES with the broadest range of indications in Europe and the only DES on the market with indication for treating bifurcated lesions, according to a press release.

News Well, Clinical Trials, Stents

Weight loss: Surgery triggers rare metabolic wasting disease | MassDevice.com On Call

May 16, 2012 by MassDevice staff

A rare but deadly genetic mutation that prevents the body from absorbing protein can be set off by weight loss surgery.

MassDevice On Call

MASSDEVICE ON CALL — A rare genetic mutation that killed a weight loss surgery patient in Tennessee can be set off by weight loss surgeries like gastric bypass.

The disease, which causes the body to convert protein into ammonia, also causes the body to consume lean muscle when protein isn't eaten, creating a cruel cycle of spiking ammonia levels in the blood and anorexia-like weight loss.

News Well, Bariatrics, On Call, Weight loss
Built on an AdaptiveTheme using Drupal by Michael Knapp  mknapp