Say hello to MassDevice +5, a bite-sized view of the top five medtech stories of the day. This feature of MassDevice.com’s coverage highlights our 5 biggest and most influential stories from the day’s news to make sure you’re up to date on the headlines that continue to shape the medical device industry.
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5. Star Trek tricorder: This may be the best we can do – for now
They don’t diagnose diseases with a few waves of the hand, the way that Dr. Leonard McCoy would with his tricorder on Star Trek. But 2 mobile platforms – algorithms and sensors paired with smart devices – nearly met the Qualcomm Tricorder XPrize’s audacious benchmarks for diagnosing 13 disease states.
In the process, a Philadelphia area team started by siblings and a Taiwan-based team sponsored by HTC Corp. each took home millions of dollars as Tricorder XPrize winners after an April 12 awards ceremony. Read more
4. Novocure gains on additional Optune data
Shares in Novocure are on the rise again after the company today cited additional data from a pivotal trial evaluating its Optune device with temozolomide chemotherapy as a treatment for newly-diagnosed glioblastoma.
Novocure’s Optune mobile device delivers low-intensity, intermediate frequency, alternating electric fields, called “tumor treating fields” or TTFields, to inhibit cancer cell replication. Read more
3. Syneron-Candela levels poaching suit against InMode Aesthetic Solutions
Syneron-Candela last week filed a lawsuit accusing InMode Aesthetic Solutions of poaching its sales staff and encouraging employees to violate non-competition agreements.
Syneron said it filed separate suits against 3 employees in March related to the poaching accusations, but that the 3 could not be joined to the case due to exclusive Massachusetts venue provisions. Read more
2. Medicare proposes reimbursement cuts for Abiomed’s Impella
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is proposing to cut the reimbursement rate for treatment with the Impella heart pump made by Abiomed but is adding coverage for use of the pump in both chambers of the heart, the company said today in a regulatory filing.
The federal health insurer last week released draft hospital payment levels for fiscal year 2018 slated to begin in October. The proposal, for treatment using the Impella pump under various scenarios, would cut 3 of the 4 categories, 1 by nearly -34%. Read more
1. Senate, House committees float stop-gap user fees bill
Aiming to avoid laying off thousands of workers at the FDA, legislators on Capitol Hill last week floated a bill to reauthorize the user fee agreement between industry and the federal safety watchdog.
Medical device and drug companies pay user fees to have the FDA review their products. The last Medical Device User Fee Act in 2012 doubled user fees from $295 million over 5 years to $595 million, in exchange for performance goals set for the FDA. Read more