If you’re judged by the company you keep, James Tobin, the CEO of Natick-based stents colossus Boston Scientific Corp. might want to skip this month’s copy of Forbes.
Latest News on MassDevice
Thermo Fisher goes Down Under, buys out Biolab for $120 million
Laboratory instruments giant Thermo Fisher Scientific took a step toward shoring up some softness in its analytic technologies business with its $120 million acquisition of Australia-based Biolab.
The deal extends the Waltham-based firm’s reach into the antipodes, as Biolab has a significant presence in Australia and New Zealand.
Phase Forward inks licensing deal with Novo Nordisk
A week after closing a $14 million acquisition, Phase Forward inked a multi-year, multi-million-dollar deal with Novo Nordisk to provide clinical trials software to the Danish pharmaceuticals colossus.
The Waltham clinical trials software provider will supply its InForm electronic data capture platform to the diabetes and hemophilia treatment developer for all of its clinical trials. Novo Nordisk is already using the EDC product in more than 30 countries.
Inverness Medical shares rise on strong Q1 results, swine flu test readiness
Shares of Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. jumped in early trading today as the Waltham diagnostic test maker beat analyst’s first-quarter expectations and investors pumped money into companies poised to profit from the swine flu outbreak.
HeartWare: 90% of LVAD-implanted patients live at least 6 months
Ninety percent of patients in the first human trial of HeartWare International Inc.‘s left ventricular assist implantable pump survived at least 180 days.
The clinical trial involved 50 patients in the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany and Australia who were implanted with the Framingham-based heart pump maker’s device, designed to enable heart transplant candidates to survive until transplatation.
What does it take to win a business plan contest?
Boston University recently held its $50K Business Plan Competition and, while there were no medical device companies in the running, I thought it would be interesting to hear from the top two teams. For those of us preparing our own business plans, listening to what they did right and wrong can be really valuable.
I sat down with Lauren Celano of Air-Go and Mike Koeris of Novo-Phage to get their insights on the “do’s and don’ts” of business plan competitions.
Jumping the gun?
President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform effort is, at least so far, characterized by a focus on an inclusionary process aimed at consensus building. The private sector organizations that have the knowledge and experience to understand healthcare system problems and inefficiencies, and that will need to be involved in implementing solutions, are being engaged and heard (PDF) by those who are crafting the detailed legislative proposals we’ll be talking about and debating later this year. It is — at least so far — all very civilized and high-minded, and hard to criticize.
Cambridge Heart loses coverage decision at WellPoint
One of the largest private insurers in the world will no longer cover a test that Cambridge Heart Inc. says can predict the risk of a sudden heart attack.
Indianapolis-based WellPoint changed its stance on the Tewksbury-based diagnostics firm’s Microvolt T-Wave Alternans test, moving it from a covered to a non-covered service. WellPoint cited results from recent clinical trials as one reason for its decision.
The Markoff and Mason murder cases
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:
The VC view
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.
Tiny tech
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.