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. 10 tips for selecting and managing a medtech development partner
There many things to consider when searching for and interacting with a product development firm – and the stakes are high! Most early-stage medical device companies are only pursuing one product solution. It’s their baby and their only opportunity for success. With limited resources and tight schedules, it’s essential to retain a development partner that best matches their needs.
Over my 17 years of meeting with prospective clients, I have been continually surprised and dismayed at the ad hoc evaluation methods used when selecting a development firm. Below are 10 things to do that will help to ensure that you and the vendor have alignment on the scope of work and that you end up with a satisfying experience and a successful product solution. A single article can’t plumb all the details and best practices that go into finding and selecting the right development partner. But these ten items can put you on the right track. Read more
4. Allergan settles Restasis patent challenge after moving patents to Native American tribe
Allergan said yesterday that it inked a deal with InnoPharma to settle a patent challenge over Allergan’s dry eye drug, Restasis.
InnoPharma is one of four companies challenging Allergan’s patents to its eye drop product. The group also includes Mylan, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Akorn Inc. – all of which are challenging the Restasis patents in federal court. Read more
3. Abbott study shows promise for DBS therapy for treatment-resistant depression
Abbott this week released data from the Broaden study of its deep brain stimulation technology used to treat chronic, treatment-resistant depression, touting a nearly 50% response to the treatment.
Data from the trial was published recently in The Lancet: Psychiatry, Abbott said. Read more
2. Conviction stands for ex-ArthroCare CEO Baker in $750m fraud case
A federal judge Texas this week upheld the conviction of former ArthroCare CEO Michael Baker on eight counts of wire fraud, rejecting his argument citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court case.
Baker and ex-ArthroCare CFO Michael Gluk were convicted in June 2014 on charges that they ran a scheme to generate false revenue numbers by dumping inventory, first with a distributor called DiscoCare and eventually via free shipments to end-users. ArthroCare was DiscoCare’s only client until it acquired DiscoCare in December 2007. Read more
1. Medtronic, Mercy hospitals ink data-sharing deal
Medtronic and the Mercy healthcare system today said they inked a data sharing and analysis deal to gather clinical evidence for “medical device innovation and patient access.”
The program aims to gather efficacy and safety data generated during routine care, rather than via expensive and time-consuming clinical trials. The first phase is designed to collect anonymized data from some 80,000 heart failure patients treated with cardiac resynchronization therapy. Read more