The Medical Device Business Journal — Medical Device News & Articles | MassDevice
Not a really a health story, but…
The Boston University Medical School was in the news last week when student Philip Markoff, 23, was charged with the so-called “Craig’slist murder.” The Boston Globe reported that among the evidence Boston police found in Markoff’s apartment was a handgun hidden in a hollowed-out copy of “Gray’s Anatomy.”
The Globe also reported that the case brings back some bad memories for students and staff at the BU Med School:
Joe Nowlan, MassDevice staff
Amir Nashat of Polaris Venture Partners and Cambridge-based tissue regeneration firm Pervasis told a group attending a panel session at the 2009 BioMEDevice conference what it takes to make it as an entrepreneur these days.
Investors are gun-shy, many having taken some hits during last year’s Wall Street meltdown, Nashat said at the “Life Science Entrepreneurs: Distinguish Yourself in a Crowded Market” forum this week.
“In today’s economic environment, people are retreating to what they know has made them money in the past,” he said.
Brandie Jefferson, MassDevice staff
Electronic feedback between prosthetic devices and human limbs ensures that a patient’s body doesn’t endure too much pressure.
Dentists use occlusion devices to test and measure the strength of a person’s bite.
Insulin pumps deliver precise doses to patients, without requiring multiple shots each day.
Integral to all of these devices is a 0.004-inch sensor, the specialty of Boston-based Tekscan Inc.
Its sensors, and the accompanying software and data acquisition hardware, are used throughout the medical field and beyond.
Thermo Fisher Scientific showed some strain during the first lap of 2009 under the weight of the worldwide economic crunch.
The Waltham-based laboratory instruments maker revised its outlook for the coming year after posting a 12 percent revenue slide and a 34.5 percent decline in net income for the first quarter, largely on slower sales in its core instrumentation business during the period ended March 31.
Joe Nowlan, MassDevice staff
The 2009 BioMEDevice conference might be in Boston, but its exhibitors hail from around the country. Wherever they’re from, though, they’re all looking to accomplish the same thing: Build new business.
“This is our first year on the East Coast, so we’re getting the word out,” says Craig Morris, silicon products business unit manager for Minneapolis-based ProMed Molded Products Inc.
Morris tells MassDevice that the 20-year-old medical silicone molding company relies partly on trade shows to develop new business. A down economy, he says, helps sort the wheat from the chaff.
Brandie Jefferson, MassDevice staff
Medical devices aren’t just for people. Dogs get glaucoma, too. And, just as in humans, it causes great pain and can lead to blindness.
Glaucoma is a condition in which fluid builds up inside the eyeball, creating pressure that eventually damages the optic nerve.
Fortunately, Healionics has a way to help pups in pain,on display at the 2009 BioMEDevice conference here in Boston.
It’s a tiny piece of material — about 1 cm by ½ cm — made from implantable-grade silicone rubber. The device is surgically inserted into the eye, under the sclera, to provide a pathway for excess fluid to drain.
Brad Perriello, MassDevice staff
With about 265 exhibitors crowding the floor, one challenge here at the 2009 BioMEDevice conference in Boston is catching the eye of as many passing attendees as possible.
NT Medical‘s answer is Charlie, a skeleton that materials manager Amanda Gallagher affectionately refers to as her “ex.”
Wilmington-based NT Medical, a division of design, development and contract manufacturer Neu-Tool Design Inc., isn’t the only exhibitor to take a creative approach to their booth.
A few rows over at Lighthouse Technical Sales, president Larry Knight presides over a four-by-eight-foot model train layout.
Microtest Laboratories doubled its DNA testing capacity with the purchase of its second DNA analyzer.
The Agawam-based testing services provider said the new analyzer increases its ability to test medical device manufacturing facilities for hard-to-indentify bacteria, mycoplasm and mold within 24 hours.
Candela Corp. posted third-quarter sales of $29.8 million, down 22.5 percent compared with $38.4 million during the same period last year.
Despite the revenue decline, the Wayland-based cosmetic laser device maker managed to narrow its quarterly net loss to $465,000, compared with a net loss of $2.1 million during the third quarter of 2008.
President and CEO Gerad Puorro, citing the quarter as Candela’s second to see revenues increase, said the company reduced its operating expenses in preparation for a return to growth.
Abiomed Inc.‘s latest heart pump models got the nod to hit the market from the federal Food & Drug Administration.
The federal watchdog agency granted 510(k) approval for the Danvers-based heart pump maker’s Impella 5.0 and Impella LD devices.
That means the minimally-invasive catheter-based pumps are cleared to provide circulatory support for up to six hours, easing the burden on patients’ hearts during serious cardiac events.
MKS Instruments Inc.‘s first-quarter sales plummeted 60 percent compared with the same period last year, landing at $76.7 million versus $193.4 million for the first quarter of 2008.
That’s a 39 percent decline from the $125.2 million the Andover-based process control products maker posted during the fourth quarter last year, and it fueled a deeper plunge into the red. MKS logged a net loss of $16.5 million during the quarter, compared with net income of $20.4 million during the first quarter of 2009.
