MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Jeff Mirviss, the global president and SVP of Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX), penned a scathing criticism of the medical device tax on the alumni blog of the University of St. Thomas.
Mirviss applauded Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.) for his bipartisan bill that would repeal the tax, a levy which Mirviss said will hamper innovation and growth in the Twin Cities "Medical Alley."
"Unfortunately the future of the medical technology industry in America is in peril. FDA regulation has created a lack of predictability, increased costs for companies, longer product approval times and is causing venture capital to flee to other industries. U.S. corporate tax rates are already higher than competitor nations and as part of the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) an entirely new tax was imposed on medical device companies.," Mirviss wrote. "As a result, companies have had to compensate for this tax by reducing R&D, clinical trials and manufacturing. In short, American jobs have been cut in order to offset the burden of this tax."
New guidelines for pediatric ear infection treatment devices
The 1st set of guidelines detailing the use of ear tubes to treat childhood ear infections was released this week.
The treatment, which involves tiny tubes less than 1/20 of an inch might be the best way to treat fluid build up and ear aches. This treatment is especially recommended for children with frequent ear infections, according to the American Academy of Otolargyngology-Head & Neck Surgery Foundation.
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E.U. brain cancer vaccine research team
A newly formed consortium, funded by the European Union, will look into personalized vaccine treatments for Glioma, a cancer of the brain or spine. The group will run clinical studies and collaborate between 14 organizations in Europe and the U.S. to find more accurate cellular biomarkers for a personalized vaccine. The consortium is led by German companies immatics biotechnologies GmbH and BioNTech AG.
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Zoll Medical and AED.com strike a deal
Zoll Medical signed a deal allowing distributor AED.com to accept Zoll’s traded-in automated external defibrillator units.
AED.com assured customers that the traded-in products will go through the standard testing process, called the 11-point AED checklist, before being sold to customers.
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More evidence for post-stroke language recovery using electric brain stimulation
The Journal of Visualized Experiments plans to publish a video showing a new technique for brain stimulation that may help stroke victims regain speech abilities. A treatment called transcranial magnetic stimulation has demonstrated long-term improvement in patients with a speech condition called aphasia, and the video is intended to educate a wider audience about the treatment.
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