Say hello to MassDevice +7, a bite-sized view of the top seven med-tech stories of the week. This latest feature of MassDevice.com’s coverage highlights our seven biggest and most influential stories from the week’s news to make sure you’re up to date on the headlines that continue to shape the medical device industry.
7. Vatican unveils outgoing Pope Benedict’s secret pacemaker
Vatican officials unveil that outgoing Pope Benedict has had a pacemaker for years and that he recently underwent a routine battery replacement.
6. Smith & Nephew CEO walks back medical device layoffs claim
Smith & Nephew CEO Olivier Bohuon says recently announced layoffs aren’t the result of the medical device tax, despite previous company statements linking the 2.3% levy with the cuts.
5. Medtech seeks state-level relief from federal levy
Medical device makers are pulling for some state-level relief to help off-set the burden of the 2.3% federal medtech tax.
4. FDA approves 1st “bionic eye” for the blind
U.S. health regulators showed some love to Second Sight Medical, granting FDA approval to the company’s market-1st "bionic eye" system for patients with blindness due to a rare disease.
3. Device makers respond to the State of the Union with renewed calls for device tax repeal
Medical device respond to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, saying the call for strengthening the economy is incompatible with the medical device tax contained in the President’s healthcare reform law.
2. Direct Flow aims to use heart valve giants’ experience against them
Direct Flow Medical and CEO Bernie Lyons are betting that its heart valve technology can use the decade’s worth of experience of the medical device industry’s transcatheter aortic valve implant pioneers to leapfrog the competition.
1. Boston Scientific CFO: ‘The portfolio is there. Now it’s all about execution’
Boston Scientific CFO Jeffrey Capello tells MassDevice.com how the medical device company plans to pull itself out of one of the roughest patches in its history.