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. Micro Interventional Devices launches MIS annuloplasty trial
Micro Interventional Devices said yesterday it completed the 1st clinical implantation of its MIA implant in the STTAR clinical trial of the device, which is designed for minimally invasive mitral and tricuspid repair procedures.
The Newtown, Penn.-based company’s MIA implant is composed of PolyCor anchors and MyoLast implantable elastomer, and is designed to reduce annular dimensions and regurgitation after being deployed in the patient’s native annulus. Read more
4. Stryker heirs donate $10m to support lynching memorial
Stryker heirs Pat and Jon Stryker are donating $10 million to support a national memorial to the victims of racial terror lynchings, according to an MLive report.
Each sibling is donating $5 million in honor of their late father, Lee Stryker, according to the report. Donations will help support the Equal Justice Initiative’s campaign looking to establish “The Memorial to Peace and Justice,” which memorializes victims of racial terror lynchings in the US, as well as a racial justice museum. Read more
3. Researchers’ bionic pancreas outperforms standard insulin pump therapy
Researchers from Boston University have developed a bionic pancreas system that outperformed conventional insulin pump therapy for patients with type 1 diabetes, according to a trial conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital. The team’s work was published in The Lancet.
This device is the latest development in the race to make an entirely closed loop insulin pump system, or “artificial pancreas” for patients with type 1 diabetes. In September, Medtronic‘s (NYSE:MDT) MiniMed 670G hybrid closed loop system became the 1st device of its kind to win FDA clearance. Boston University has licensed the patents for its system to start-up Beta Bionics, which is developing and commercializing the iLet bionic pancreas. Read more
2. Dexcom wins expanded FDA indication for G5 CGM
Dexcom Inc. said yesterday it won an expanded FDA indication for its G5 mobile continuous glucose monitoring system, now approved as a non-adjunctive device for diabetes treatment.
With the approval, Dexcom touted that its device is now the ‘1st and only’ CGM system that can “make daily diabetes treatment decisions” without requiring a blood sample through a finger prick at each reading. Read more
1. DeviceTalks Q&A: Verb Surgical CEO Scott Huennekens
Few CEOs have been given the mandate Scott Huennekens was charged with as employee No. 1 at Verb Surgical, the robotics spinout backed by Google and Johnson & Johnson: Go forth and change the world.
“Don’t worry about capital, don’t worry about funding,” Huennekens told MassDevice.com publisher Brian Johnson recently. “Just go out and change the world.” Read more
