Costs, costs, costs
Unrelenting costs increases and the economic meltdown are eroding the benefits of the Massachusetts health plan, according to a new study from the D.C.-based Urban Institute:
Latest News on MassDevice
Covidien goes green
Covidien Ltd.‘s shareholders bid farewell to the isle of Bermuda today, approving a previously announced move to incorporate in Ireland.
The only remaining hurdle is a judgment from the Supreme Court of Bermuda, which the company expects to obtain at a hearing June 4.
FDA clears another Boston Scientific device
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.
Extra credit
For companies with a burn rate that’s hot to the touch, there could be a little bit of relief from an unlikely source.
There’s a little-known credit in the federal tax code for research and development expenses that could save early-stage companies a boat load of money.
But most firms either overlook the credit entirely, or find it too mystifying to bother with, meaning that this powerful accounting tool isn’t getting the kind of play it should with the companies that need it most.
Boston Scientific loses a pair of board members to Obama, Xerox
Boston Scientific Corp. is losing a pair of board members to the Obama administration and Xerox Corp.
Kristina Johnson and Ursula Burns resigned from the Natick device giant’s board of directors after accepting jobs in the Dept. of Energy and the copy machine maker, respectively.
Johnson, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as under secretary in the Energy Dept.
FDA approves Boston Scientific’s Taxus Liberté Atom stent
The Food & Drug Administration gave the nod to Boston Scientific Corp.‘s small-vessel paclitaxel-eluting stent, the Taxus Liberté Atom, clearing the way for it to hit the market next month.
The federal watchdog agency cleared the device for treatment of coronary vessels as small as 2.25mm in diameter, making it and its Taxus Express Atom cousin the only two drug-eluting stents approved for procedures involving small vessels in the United States.
Inverness to partner with research institute to develop Alzheimer’s test
Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. and a research institute based in Morgantown, W.Va., are partnering up to develop and commercialize a diagnostic test for Alzheimer’s disease.
The Waltham-based diagnostics manufacturer will fund research and development of a test developed by researchers at the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute for three years, in exchange for the right to market the test once it’s ready — which could be as soon as 18 months, The Associated Press reports.
The Obama imprint
The slate of new appointees to healthcare-related jobs in Washington is already making its mark, from Margaret Hamburg, the newly confirmed commissioner of the Food & Drug Administration, to the White House officials charged with midwifing President Barack Obama’s ambitious healthcare reform agenda.
First there’s Hamburg, who detailed her view of the federal watchdog agency’s role in ensuring the safety of the nation’s $2 trillion food, drug and medical products pipeline.
Thermo Fisher adds two to its board
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. added a pair of new members to its board of directors.
The Waltham-based laboratory instruments maker said Tyco Electronics Ltd. CEO Thomas Lynch and Tyler Jacks, a professor of biology at MIT, will join the company’s 12-person board.
Boston Scientific: Risk of death from aneurysm far lower with endovascular coil embolization
Boston Scientific Corp., citing the results of a long-term study, said patients treated with endovascular coil embolization for ruptured intracranial aneurysms are 23 percent less likely to die within five years, compared with patients treated by surgical clipping of the aneurysm.
A report from the ASTM Subcommittee on Spinal Devices meeting
For you hard-core spinal device folks who couldn’t make the long trip to Vancouver, here are a few items of potential interest from the most recent ASTM standards committee meeting. Of the 50-plus attendees, several spine companies with a local presence were represented, including DePuy Spine, Facet Solutions and Orthofix Spinal Implants.
