Stanford University researchers say they’ve developed nanostraws capable of sampling cell contents—all without disrupting natural processes. The innovation has the potential to provide non-destructive cell monitoring versus lysing, the cell sampling method presently used. Lysing ruptures the cell, while the sampling method developed at Stanford relies on tiny tubes that are 600 times smaller than […]
MedTech
Here’s how exosuits affect your joints
People who wear soft exosuits use 23% less energy when walking while also reducing stress on their ankle joints, according to a recently published study out of Harvard. The researchers previously showed that a soft robotic exosuit could lower energy expenditures in healthy people who need to carry things on their backs, but the new research shows […]
Is health IT going to drink medtech’s funding milkshake?
Healthcare companies in the U.S. midwest last year brought in $1.7 billion in investments—an amount that came within $60 million of the all-time record set in 2014, according to the BioEnterprise Midwest Healthcare Growth Capital Report. Medical device companies took in the largest chunk of money, raising $696 million, or 40.3% of the total. But […]
Medical device enforcement is getting more serious—particularly in Northeast
There has been aggressive momentum on the side of federal medical device anti-corruption enforcers, in particular in the Northeast. Maureen Ruane and Scott McBride, Lowenstein Sandler There are more questions than answers on what a new and unconventional administration in the White House will do in 2017 in many areas, no less so in medical […]
How surgical robots are creating super surgeons
Faster than a scalpel-wielding hand, able to snake to hard-to-reach surgical sites in a single bound—future surgeons will be super surgeons, all thanks to robotics. Alistair Fleming, VP Medical at Sagentia In many industries, the advance of robotics has created worries about robots supplanting humans. But in the world of surgery, the next generation of […]
3 ways you can accelerate your innovation
Heather Thompson, Senior Editor Accelerating innovation is an easy-to-say, hard-to-do concept. In many ways, product development has sped up to a breakneck pace in the last 20 years due to CAD advances, automation, 3D printing, rapid protoyping, to name only a few technologies. Toolkits and methodologies have also expanded to include lean and agile principles, […]
Why medtech companies should implement regionalized sales models
Having more flexibility in how sales roles are deployed and allowing more customization in regions represents the next frontier of productivity. Pete Masloski, ZS In today’s dynamic healthcare environment, IDN consolidation and centralized medical device purchasing are creating significant pricing pressure on the medical device industry. In fact, on average, prices for costly medical devices […]
Dow Chemical’s silicone business play: what it means for medtech
Heather Thompson, Senior Editor Dow Chemical as of mid-2016 became 100% owner of Dow Corning’s silicones business. The move created both an opportunity and challenge because it represents a marriage of organic chemistry and inorganic chemistry. How can the two complement each other and drive innovation? And how will the deal affect the medical device […]
Cool precision: 5 medtech micro products with a big impact
Heather Thompson, Senior Editor In the world of medtech, the smallest products can make a big impression. Some of the products at MD&M West—held this week in Anaheim, Calif.—celebrated the grandeur found in tiny things. Engineer Oliver Rapp, of NN Inc.’s Precision Products Group (Booth #2311), shared some of the more exciting high volume devices that […]
6 huge things you could have learned at MD&M West
Heather Thompson, Senior Editor A greater willingness to embrace failure and innovate—and a “yuge” elephant in the room named Donald—those are some of the major themes this week as 20,000 medical device engineers and executives meet in Anaheim, Calif., for the annual MD&M West conference and expo. Here are six things one could hear echoed throughout the […]
7 medtech stories we missed: Feb. 3, 2017
From disappointing Getinge earnings to a $2.25 billion U.S. Defense Department contract for Cardinal Health to a host of 510(k) clearances, here are seven recent medtech stories that are still worth a mention. 1. Getinge disappoints on earnings—again Getinge stock took a nearly 10% tumble last week after releasing earnings that Reuters says lagged analyst […]