The Medical Device Business Journal — Medical Device News & Articles | MassDevice
Cambridge Endoscopic Devices Inc. raised $1.5 million in new debt financing.
The Framingham-based company makes endoscopic surgical tools that work through a single incision. For example, transplant surgeons can use the Autonomy Laparo-Angle device to remove kidneys through the patient’s navel, resulting in significantly faster recovery times and a relatively inconspicious scar.
Days after drumming up $6 million in a debt sale, CardioFocus Inc. got the OK to begin marketing its Endoscopic Ablation System atrial fibrillation catheter in the European Union.
The Marlborough cardiac device maker said the system consists of a micro-endoscope physicians use to see within the heart and direct energy through a catheter to the fibrillating tissue in the heart’s atrial chamber.
Ray Elliott, the incoming CEO of Boston Scientific, has his work cut out for him.
Elliott would like the company to push into new markets, such as urology, gynecology and women’s health. But the Natick device maker is awash in debt, which Elliott must finish bailing out before making any large strategic moves.
Wall Street analysts are divided over the company’s prospects, Reuters reported, as shares hover just under 8-month-highs (closing at $9.86 July 2).
Michael Phalen, president of Boston Scientific Corp.‘s endoscopy division, began his long tenure at the Natick devices giant in 1988 as a sales rep. After several crossings between the outside sales world and inside marketing positions, he was named president of the endoscopy operation in 2001.*
The U.S. Patent Office approved a seventh patent by NuOrtho Surgical, for a low-energy radio-frequency application.
President and CEO Jeff Morrill tells MassDevice the patent is applicable to an electrosurgical device the company is developing for arthroscopic procedures.
“Our early products will be for debridement or contouring,” Morrill said. “This patent is for a future product … around agent delivery and particularly bone fusion.”
NuOrtho said it’s initially targeting the U.S. and hopes to find partners to expand into the European Union. The company recently launched a Series B investment round.
The Food & Drug Administration cleared another Boston Scientific Corp. device, the second in as many days for the Natick device maker.
Hard on the heels of its nod to BSC’s Taxus Liberté Atom small-vessel coronary stent, the federal watchdog agency granted 510(k) approval to the SpyScope cholangioscopy catheter.
The device, previously approved only for bile and hepatic duct treatments, is used to guide visualization and accessory devices during procedures to diagnose and treat pancreatic cancer.
Smith & Nephew Endoscopy debuted a new system for repairing torn biceps muscles.
The Andover endoscopic products maker said its Biceptor Tenodesis System is designed to allow surgeons to re-attach the biceps tendon to the humerus in the shoulder during arthroscopic procedures.
Other operations require reinforcement of the biceps tendon before re-attachment, meaning it must be pulled out of the shoulder and sutured before it’s replaced.
{IMAGELEFT:http://www.massdevice.com/sites/default/files/featureArt/SmithNephewBiceptor_200.jpg}The procedure is a common step during rotator cuff repair, according to the company, which said more than 68,000 biceps tenodesis procedures are expected worldwide this year.
Microline Pentax acquired Sunnyvale, Calif. -based Starion Instruments for an undisclosed amount.
Beverly-based Microline Pentax said the deal will expand its reach into the cardiology and ear, nose & throat markets.
Microline makes laparoscopic surgical devices. Starion’s devices feature a so-called “tissue welding” technology that uses direct heat and pressure to simultaneously seal and divide soft tissue and vessels.
The former president of Boston Scientific Corp.‘s peripheral interventions division joined the board of directors at Avantis Medical Systems Inc.
The Sunnyvale, Calif., company manufactures a catheter-based colonoscope called the Third Eye Retroscope, a miniature video endoscope that can see behind the folds of the human colon.
Jenusaitis worked for the Natick-based medical devices giant for 15 years before leaving the company in 2005.
Solos Endoscopy Inc. will sell two product lines back to their original owner in a deal for stock, convertible debt and other considerations.
The Boston-based endoscopic and medical imaging devices maker said it will sell the OvaScope and MastaScope product lines, which are used to detect different types of cancer in the breast and ovaries, back to Lifeline Biotechnologies Inc. of Reno, Nev.
