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. This sweat-powered biofuel cell could create better wearable devices
Engineers at the University of California at San Diego have created a stretchable sweat-powered biofuel cell, and it could enable better wearables.
The biofuel cells use energy from sweat to generate 10 times more power per surface area than other biofuel cells that are used in wearables. The researchers claim it could be used to power a variety of wearable devices. Read more
4. Hurricane Maria poses threat to med device hub in Puerto Rico, Medtronic closes facilities
Hurricane Maria is posing a threat to medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturing plants in Puerto Rico, according to a new Bloomberg report.
The island is home to facilities for Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Amgen, Merck, Medtronic, Abbott, Stryker and dozens of others, according to the report. Read more
3. Indian gov’t mulls price cap on ‘essential’ medical devices
The Indian government is considering capping prices on medical devices it deems essential to health care, according to a new report from LiveMint.
The government has assembled a committee to create a National List of Essential Medical Devices which it intends to make available with assurances related to both quality and price, according to the report. Read more
2. Plaintiff wins new trial in DePuy ASR XL hip suit
The plaintiff in a product liability lawsuit brought against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary DePuy Synthes won a new trial after an Illinois state court found that a joint replacement researcher’s testimony was unfairly excluded from her original trial.
Carol Strum lost her first trial in April 2013 after a Chicago jury rejected her claims that the company, then known as DePuy Orthopaedics, was liable for injuries she allegedly sustained after implantation with a metal-on-metal ASR XL hip implant. DePuy pulled the ASR XL devices from the market in August 2010. Read more
1. FDA approves Abiomed’s Impella RP heart pump
Abiomed said today that it won pre-market approval from the FDA for its Impella RP heart pump, claiming it as the only such device cleared for right heart failure.
Like Abiomed’s flagship Impella heart pump, the Impella RP is threaded into the heart via the femoral artery in the thigh. But unlike previous Impella models, all designed for the heart’s left ventricle, the Impella RP is designed to access the heart’s right ventricle via the vena cava. Read more