The Medical Device Business Journal — Medical Device News & Articles | MassDevice
BG Medicine Inc. is taking part in a study that could someday lead to a simple blood test for heart disease.
The Waltham-based diagnostic equipment maker said it is working with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and Boston University to analyze about 1,000 bio-samples taken as part of the more than 60-year Framingham Heart Study.
Caliper Life Sciences Inc. took a big fourth-quarter hit to its balance sheet, widening its losses by 91 percent for the three-month period ended Dec. 31, 2008.
The Hopkinton-based lab equipment maker posted a $45 million charge on impairment of goodwill during the quarter.
That pushed the Caliper’s quarterly net loss to $46 million, compared to $5.7 million during the same period in 2007 — nearly 33 percent of its $68 million net loss for the full year. That, in turn, represents a 60 percent hike over the $24 million net loss Caliper posted for fiscal 2007.
Somebody should give those guys a raise.
In the same week that NxStage Medical Inc. announced that company executives will not receive bonuses or raises after last year’s dismal stock performance, company officials said sales for the Lawrence-based dialysis maker jumped 115 percent in 2008.
NxStage, which makes dialysis equipment to treat end-stage renal failure, posted fourth-quarter sales of $35.7 million, up 19 percent over $29.8 million during the same period last year.
That helped the company narrow its net loss to $9.6 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008, compared with a net loss of $17.3 million during the fourth quarter of 2007.
In a post-event haze fueled by rice and curry chicken (the 2009 Annual Life Sciences Venture Capital Outlook Event was held by The Indus Entrepreneurs), I can conclude that medtech in Massachusetts continues to be a great place to innovate and invest, but as entrepreneurs we need to pause to let the markets settle down a bit before raising more funding.
About 100 venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and students sat down March 11 in a Harvard Business School lecture room for two presentations by local MedTech entrepreneurs.
If you sell to doctors in Massachusetts, say goodbye to the promotional pen.
A state agency finalized the nation’s toughest rules governing gifts by medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical firms to physicians.
The regulations, enacted as part of a healthcare reform measure passed last summer, contain sweeping limits and outright bans on gifts to physicians, including meals, tickets and even pens.
Wal-Mart Stores plans to enter the health information technology market, offering an electronic medical records service to small doctor’s offices, The New York Times reported.
The retail conglomerate’s move coincides with President Barack Obama’s $19 billion push to accelerate the adoption of digital medical records.
Looking to push the company’s stock a little higher, Bruker Corp. chairman and CEO Frank Laukien upped his stake in the Billerica-based laboratory equipment maker between March 5 and March 10, according to a regulatory filing.
Laukien‘s position in Bruker rose to roughly 23 percent — or about 38.2 million shares worth nearly $200 million.
Out of the frying pan and into … the skillet?
That’s about the size of it for Boston Scientific Corp., which saw its bond rating raised from negative to stable by Moody’s Investors Service. It’s good news, but there’s still a ways to go.
Moody’s upgraded the Natick-based medical device giant’s U.S. public bond rating March 10 from “Ba2” to “Ba1” and its liquidity rating from “SGL-3” to “SGL-2”, while affirming its corporate credit rating at “Ba1.”
Children’s Hospital Boston inked a deal with CompuCyte that will see the Westwood laser cytometry equipment maker provide devices and services to researchers affiliated with Harvard Medical School.
CompuCyte will provide its laser scanning cytometry instruments and technical support and quantitative imaging cytometry and analysis services to researchers at the Longwood medical campus in Brookline.
Executives at NxStage will forego raises and bonuses for 2008, after the company’s compensation committee voted March 5 to freeze wages for 2009 and hold off on any incentive bonuses for last year’s performance.
Officials at Lawrence-based NxStage, which makes portable dialysis equipment for treating acute kidney failure, announced the policy March 10.
Here are the highlights:
A prominent New York City ear, nose and throat surgeon — and, perhaps not coincidentally, the inventor of a laser treatment for bad breath — picked up a 7 percent stake inWayland-based Candela Corp., which makes cosmetic laser treatment equipment.
Yosef Krespi, chairman of the ENT department at St. Luke’s and Roosevelt Hospitals in New York, bought 1.6 million shares in Candela Feb. 27, according to a filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
Based on the closing price of Candela shares that day, that means Krespi spent about $560,000 to buy into the company.
