Deval Patrick wanted to be known as the governor that "got it" when it came to 1 of Massachusetts’ most important industries, the life sciences sector, and he courted industry assiduously during his 8-year tenure as Bay State governor.
Patrick was ubiquitous at life science gatherings in the Commonwealth and abroad, delivering keynote addresses and showing up at various ribbon cuttings to work the room in his role as the industry’s biggest cheerleader.
by Charles Ornstein, ProPublica
The federal government has a word for physicians who don’t have financial relationships with pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers: "Error."
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) this week sent an open letter to the Obama Administration, expressing "disappointment" that health regulators have yet to issue final rules on the Sunshine Act, delaying efforts to make relationships between healthcare providers and the healthcare industry more transparent.
"It will be 3 years in March since the Sunshine Act was enacted," Grassley said. "Three years is a long time for pretty straightforward regulations."
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Physicians may be relying too heavily on drug-eluting stents for patients who aren’t at significant risk of restenosis, a preference that could represent an unnecessary financial burden on the healthcare system, a new study suggests.
Opting for less expensive bare-metal stents for patients whose blood vessels aren’t at high risk of re-narrowing could save hundreds of millions of dollars per year without significantly increasing patients’ risk of requiring a repeat procedure, according to a retrospective study of the National Cardiovascular Data Registry CathPCI .
Last week, the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives both passed House Bill 4200. Currently, Massachusetts’s Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Manufacturer Conduct Law, requires the Department of Public Health to “adopt a standard marketing code of conduct for all pharmaceutical or medical device manufacturing companies that employ a person to sell or market prescription drugs or medical devices in the commonwealth.”
A U.S. District Court hit military cardiologist Major Jason Davis with $12,700 in fines to repay gifts and payments he received from Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE:BSX) Guidant Corp.
The judge ordered Davis to repay “every dinner, every bottle of wine and every other gratuity that you have ever received from Guidant” in announcing the sentence against him.
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Gift ban: Mass. House votes to repeal law regulating company’s gifts to doctors. The Mass. House of Representatives voted to overturn a law that requires that medical device and pharmaceutical companies disclose certain gifts to physicians while banning other gifts altogether.
Commonwealth lawmakers yesterday voted 128-22 in their state budget debate to end the law.
Here’s a roundup of companies announcing clearances and approvals from the Food & Drug Administration and foreign regulatory agencies. Check out MassDevice’s compilation of the latest regulatory news for additional clearances and approvals.
By Stewart Eisenhart, Emergo Group
At a Food & Drug Administration town hall meeting held March 10 in Irving, Texas, Center for Devices and Radiological Health director Dr. Jeffrey Shuren disclosed to Emergo Group officials in attendance that the agency plans to issue guidance on mobile medical applications later this year.
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