7 medtech stories we missed this week: July 21, 2017

July 21, 2017 By Danielle Kirsh Leave a Comment

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From Second Sight’s South Korean market entry to Sanuwave’s Indonesian distribution deal, here are seven medtech stories we missed this week but thought were still worth mentioning.

1. Second Sight enters South Korea market

Second Sight announced in a July 5 press release that it has entered the market in South Korea with the implantation of two patients with its Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System in Seoul. The implants were made possible by the country’s distribution partner Kisantech Co.

2. K2M touts Japan distribution deal with Mitsubishi

K2M signed a new, long-term exclusive agreement with Mitsubishi to distribute its spinal technologies in Japan, according to a July 10 press release. The agreement names Japan Medicalnext as the exclusive distributor of K2M’s spine products in Japan, and the terms of the agreement extend the partnership for seven years.

3. Hill-Rom launches safety surgical instruments line

Hill-Rom announced in a July 17 press release that it is launching a new line of safety surgical instruments that include the Bard Parker SafeSwitch disposable scalpel handle and scalpel handle cover and the new Bard Parker blade remover. The products are designed to help surgeons and their teams prevent injuries that can happen at all times during a procedure. The Bard Parker SafeSwitch disposable scalpel handles give surgeons the ability to safely retract, pass and disarm blades in one step and with one hand. The blade remover allows surgeons to remove up to five contaminated blades per remover without having to touch the blade.

4. ApiFix inks Spanish distribution deal

ApiFix announced that it has signed an exclusive distribution deal in Spain with Acuna-Fombona, according to a July 18 press release. ApiFix develops a minimally-invasive, non-fusion spinal implant system that results in short procedure and recovery times while maintaining spine flexibility.

5. Reha Technology gets 510(k) clearance for electrostim with rehab robot

Reha Technology announced in a July 18 press release that it is going to begin to offer the newly FDA-approved integrated Functional Electronic Stimulation (FES) for their G-EO System Evolution robotic gait trainer. FES with the G-EO System has previously shown success in Europe and Asia and the company plans to broaden the adoption of the FES technology in the U.S. market to give therapists other treatment options for patients.

6. Alpha Tau Medical claims second funding round

Alpha Tau Medical announced that it has raised 20% more capital than it originally planned for its Alpha DaRT cancer treatment, according to a July 18 press release. The company plans to use the funding to further develop the treatment as a highly potent and conformal treatment for 11 different types of tumors. In its first clinical study, the Alpha DaRT showed that it could effectively destroy solid tumors with no adverse effects. The treatment was performed under local anesthesia and did not need special shielding or capital equipment. The treatment took 60 minutes.

7. Sanuwave signs Indonesia distribution deal

Sanuwave Health announced in a July 20 press release that Alat Medika Indonesia will be its distributor for its dermaPACE and the liaison for clinical trials participation for Sanuwave’s wound care product in Indonesia. The company expects revenue to rise to over $M over the next three years because of the distribution deal.

Here’s what we missed last week.

Certain GE Healthcare patient-monitoring devices vulnerable to cyberattack
The federal government and GE Healthcare (NYSE:GE) announced today that the certain of the company’s patient monitoring devices are vulnerable to cyberattack. If attacked, some versions of the Carescape and ApexPro telemetry servers, the Carescape Central Station version 1 and Central Information Center systems could stop monitoring patients, silence alarms or produce unnecessary alarms during… […]
Cardinal Health recalls 9 million surgical gowns, sends hospitals scrambling
Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) announced that it is voluntarily recalling 9.1 million surgical gowns produced by an unnamed contract manufacturer after discovering quality issues with the product. The Dublin, Ohio-based company said that some gowns were produced in unapproved locations that did not maintain proper environmental conditions as required by law. Some of the gowns were also… […]
KNF launches compact swing piston pump
KNF Neuberger is touting its NPK 06 swing piston micro gas pumps, designed to deliver high-flow and high-pressure performance in a compact size. The new pumps work well for medical diagnostics, therapy, monitoring, and general compression applications, according to the Trenton, N.J.-based company. NPK 06 measures 1.85” (47mm) wide and can produce free flow up… […]
Heraeus Medical Components and Myant partner on electrical sensing for textiles
Heraeus Medical Components (St. Paul, Minn.) and Toronto-based Myant have entered a partnership enabling Myant to use Heraeus’ Tectitoat for electrical sensing applications in textiles, the companies announced today. Tecticoat is a conductive polymer-based coating that can be applied to textiles to control electrical conductivity, electromagnetic shielding and electrostatic dissipation, making it suitable for integration… […]
Cook Medical’s peripheral artery set debuts in U.S.
Cook Medical recently announced the U.S. launch of its TriForce peripheral crossing set to support vascular obstruction procedures. The TriForce set is designed to be percutaneously introduced into blood vessels to support a wire guide while performing a peripheral intervention, according to the Bloomington, Ind.-based company. This device is also intended for injection of radiopaque… […]
Bayer and Exscientia partner to bring AI to drug discovery
Bayer (ETR:BAYN) announced that it is entering into a collaboration agreement with artificial intelligence drug discovery company Exscientia to identify and optimize novel lead structures for potential drug candidates in treating cardiovascular and oncological diseases. The agreement, announced earlier this month, is slated to see the companies work together on early research projects combining Exscientia’s proprietary… […]
GHO Capital acquires Ardena
European specialist investor Global Healthcare Opportunities, also called GHO Capital Partners, recently announced that it has acquired Ardena — a specialist contract development and manufacturing organization focused on early phase drug development. Financial terms of the deal, announced Jan. 9, were not disclosed. Get the full story on sister site Drug Discovery and Development. The […]
Albright Silicone launches 3D printed tooling for silicone molding
Albright Silicone (Leominster, Mass.) recently announced that it has added 3D printed tooling for LSR molding, touting the relative low coast and rapid turnaround the process offers for prototyping. “This capability of 3D printing and molding LSR is a helpful solution to customers’ problems when trying to develop and prove a concept before investing in… […]
BREAKING: Medtronic wins FDA approval for Micra AV
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) has won FDA approval for its Micra AV — greatly expanding the number of people who could potentially benefit from leadless pacemaker technology. The medical device giant plans to start offering the Micra AV in a limited number of implanting centers in the coming weeks, with a full launch expected in the spring. FDA… […]
FDA reclassifies some medical image analyzers
The FDA today imposed stricter regulations on certain radiological medical image analyzers, reclassifying them from Class III to Class II. Affected products include computer-assisted detection (CADe) devices for breast cancer mammography, breast-lesion ultrasound, and lung-nodule and dental-caries radiography, the agency said. It defines these devices as those intended to identify, mark, highlight, or in any… […]
Medline Industries temporarily halts EtO sterilization at Illinois plant
This article has been updated with a comment from Medela. Medline Industries has temporarily closed its Waukegan, Ill., medical device sterilization operation to install nearly $10 million in emissions upgrades. The privately owned company uses the carcinogenic gas ethylene oxide (EtO) to sterilize its own and other companies’ devices at the plant. Medline did not… […]