Abbott (NYSE:ABT) said today it launched a US pivotal trial looking to explore the safety and effectiveness of a modified version of its Amplatzer device designed to correct patent ductus arteriosus, a congenital heart defect in pre-term infants. “Patent ductus arteriosus is one of the most common heart defects, accounting for 5% to 10% of all […]
Abbott
Abbott upgrades St. Jude Medical cardiac devices
Abbott (NYSE:ABT) said today that it’s upgrading the implantable pacemakers and defibrillators it acquired when it paid $25 billion for St. Jude Medical earlier this year, seeking to move beyond battery and cybersecurity issues that haver plagued it for a year. Last October St. Jude warned of a battery issue that could disable its high-voltage cardiac rhythm management devices, […]
Biotronik’s Orsiro drug-eluting stent tops Abbott’s Xience in study
Biotronik said today that its Orsiro drug-eluting stent beat Abbott‘s (NYSE:ABT) Xience DES in a trial comparing the target lesion failure rates of both devices. The data, which were presented at the European Society of Cardiology’s ESC Congress and published by The Lancet, showed a 6.2% TLF rate at 12-months for patients treated with Orsiro compared to 9.6% […]
Abbott wins FDA nod for HeartMate 3 pump
Abbott (NYSE:ABT) said today that the FDA approved its HeartMate 3 implantable pump for heart failure patients awaiting a transplant. The approval is the latest for the HeartMate line of left ventricular assist devices first developed by Thoratec, which was later acquired by St. Jude Medical before a $25 billion merger brought it to Abbott earlier this […]
Shareholder suit against Alere stays alive
A Massachusetts federal judge dismissed most of a securities fraud class action case against Alere (NYSE:ALR) yesterday, saying that the complaint did not support the claim that Alere senior management had prior knowledge of the company’s alleged wrongdoing. U.S. district judge Patti Saris did, however, allow one part of the complaint to move into discovery. The claim […]
Ex-AMO chief Mazzo seeks dismissal in retrial of insider trading case
Former Advanced Medical Optics CEO James Mazzo wants a federal judge to dismiss his retrial on insider trading charges after the first round ended in a mistrial, alleging prosecutorial misconduct. Federal prosecutors argue that Mazzo can’t prove any of his allegations, according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court for Central California. The feds in 2014 accused […]
Alleged $5m insider trading ring included Abbott, St. Jude Medical acquisition
US authorities yesterday announced a slew of insider trading charges accusing 7 individuals of creating more than $5 million in profit based on tips from a Bank of America employee on pending corporate transactions, including Abbott‘s (NYSE:ABT) $25 billion acquisition of St. Jude Medical. Both the alleged tipper, Daniel Rivas, and James Moodhe, father of […]
India institutes price caps for orthopedic knee implants
Updated to include comment from the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry. Indian regulators are capping prices of orthopedic knee implants as the country looks to lower the cost of medical devices. The country’s drug pricing authority said today that orthopedic implants in the country had unjustified, unreasonable and irrationally high trade margins, which led […]
Abbott’s new contact ablation catheter: Here’s what you need to know
The new TactiCath contact ablation catheter unites EndoSense and St. Jude Medical technologies that Abbott acquired, marrying fiber optics, flexibility and 3D mapping. If you want your grilled cheese to cook faster, you press it into the pan with your spatula. That’s contact force, the principle behind Abbott’s TactiCath contact force ablation catheter, according to […]
Abbott extends Alere tender offer
Abbott (NYSE:ABT) said today it is extending a tender offer for all outstanding Alere (NYSE:ALR) Series B convertible perpetual preferred stock shares at $402 per share. As part of the offering, Abbott said it will also pay for unpaid dividends to the settlement date of the tender offer in cash, without interest and subject to applicable taxes. […]
Abbott launches trial of transcatheter tricuspid repair device, eyes CE Mark
Abbott (NYSE:ABT) said today it enrolled the 1st patient in a clinical trial of a minimally invasive, clip-based transcatheter valve repair system for treating patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation, looking to eventually support CE Mark approval in the European Union. The 1st patient in the trial was enrolled at the Abbott Northwestern Hospital by Dr. Paul Sorajja […]