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.
If you read nothing else this weekend, make sure you’re still in the know with MassDevice +7.
7. Medical device tax: MITA battles “windfall” rhetoric
“Only in Washington could paying a $30 billion tax over the next 10 years be viewed as a windfall opportunity,” Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance executive director Gail Rodriguez says.
6. Justice Dept. closes criminal, civil probe into Medtronic’s Infuse
The U.S. Justice Dept. closes its years-long criminal and civil investigation into Medtronic’s controversial Infuse bone growth protein.
5. Medtronic and St. Jude battle it out on a new frontier: High blood pressure
Medtronic scoffs at St. Jude Medical’s claims that its Enlightn renal denervation system lowers blood pressure faster than Medtronic’s Symplicity, calling them “interesting” but merely “hypothesis-generating.”
4. FDA panel wants a higher bar for medical devices aimed at curbing obesity
An FDA advisory panel says riskier medical devices for treating obesity should deliver more weight loss than less-risky treatments to justify the federal watchdog agency’s approval.
3. Boston Scientific’s Lotus TAVI system minimizes leakage in early trial
Boston Scientific’s Lotus transcatheter aortic valve implantation system proves to minimize paravalvular leakage after successful implantation in patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis who are too sick to undergo open-heart surgery.
2. “This was not supposed to be an outcome of ObamaCare”
Former FDA official and current conservative think-tank fellow Henry Miller writes that the approaching 2.3% medical device levy stunts the U.S. device industry.
1. Whistleblower accuses Medtronic of installing crony in spine journal to promote Infuse
An unsealed whistleblower lawsuit accuses Medtronic of violating the Medicare False Claims Act through illegal marketing of its Infuse bone growth protein, alleging that the medical device maker installed a crony as editor of an influential spine journal to push positive data on the controversial compound.
