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. BD tops estimates with fiscal Q2 earnings, sales meet expectations
Becton Dickinson & Co. handily beat Wall Street’s consensus estimate for its fiscal 2nd-quarter earnings, meeting top-line expectations dead on, as sales and profits surged from its Carefusion subsidiary.
Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based BD, which closed the $12 billion buyout of Carefusion in March 2015, posted profits of $338 million, or $1.56 per share, on sales of $3.07 billion for the 3 months ended March 31. That represents a 56.5% bottom-line surge on sales growth of 49.5%, compared with Q2 2015. Read more
4. ForSight Vision5’s Helios implant delivers at 6 months in Phase II trial
The Helios drug-eluting implant developed by ForSight Vision5 lowered intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients by about 20% after 6 months, according to study results published today in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
The Helios device is a thin, silicone ring impregnated with the glaucoma drug bimatoprost that’s designed to slowly release the drug for 6 months. The aim is to overcome the compliance issue that dogs patient-administered eye drops. Read more
3. Baxter boosts Baxalta share exchange offer
Baxter said today that its raising the size of its offer to exchange its own shares for those of its Baxalta pharmaceuticals spinout ahead of its acquisition by Shire.
Baxter cut its stake in Baxalta in January from 19.4% to 13.8%. In March, Deerfield, Ill.-based Baxter exchanged about 59.4 million Baxalta shares at $39.40 apiece, leave it with 34.9 million BXLT shares. Read more
2. Smith & Nephew’s Q1 sales miss the mark
Smith & Nephew missed expectations with its 1st-quarter revenues, saying sales were off in China and the Middle East, offsetting stronger demand in the U.S.
The London-based orthopedics and wound care giant posted sales of $1.14 billion, up 3.0% from Q1 2015; the consensus analyst estimate was for sales of $1.16 billion. Adjusted to exclude the effects of exchange rates and acquisitions, underlying growth was 4%, Smith & Nephew said. Read more
1. Cook Medical recalls all 4m Beacon Tip catheters
The catheter recall that’s been bedeviling Cook Medical since last year grew last month as the company recalled all lots of catheters using its Beacon Tip locating technology, but the company expects to have replacement catheters on the market within the next several weeks.
The move stems from an increase in reports that the polymer used in the tips degrades over time, causing the tips to fracture or separate during procedures. Cook Medical said it’s received 30 reports of tip splitting to date, prompting the recall of some 4 million of the devices. Read more
