Say hello to MassDevice +3, a bite-sized view of the top three medtech stories of the day. This feature of MassDevice.com’s coverage highlights our 3 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.

 

3. Ex-Bard, BD engineer gets 18 months for stealing trade secrets

An engineer who worked for C.R. Bard and Becton Dickinson & Co. who confessed to stealing trade secrets from the companies was sentenced yesterday to 18 months in prison.

Ketankumar “Ketan” Maniar pleaded guilty in May before Judge Joel Pisano of the U.S. District Court for New Jersey to 2 counts of theft and attempted theft of trade secrets “for his own economic benefit,” according to federal prosecutors. Read more

2. Medtech VC deals post double-digit increases in Q3

Venture capital shops got behind medtech during the 3rd quarter, increasing their spend and the number of deals compared with the same period last year, according to the MoneyTree report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Assn., based on Thomson Reuters data.

There were 78 medical device company deals worth $585.6 million during the quarter, according to the report, for increases of 18.2% and 13.3%, respectively. The average quarterly VC spend on medtech so far this year was also up, rising 15.1% to $624.0 million compared with Q3 2013. Read more

1. FDA strikes out again in Prevor drug-or-device case

A federal court has again ruled against the FDA’s definition of what constitutes a “medical device” versus a “drug” in a long-running case involving a market application submitted by France’s Prevor for its industrial skin-cleaner DSW.

Last month, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected for a 2nd time the FDA’s classification of DSW as a drug, remanding the matter again to the agency for further action. Read more