Stryker’s success with its Mako robot-assisted surgery platform has other orthopedic device companies hastening to enter the space. The big question is whether long-term outcomes will justify the expensive technology. More than five years after spending $1.7 billion to acquire Mako Surgical, Stryker is leading the way bringing robot-assisted surgery to the orthopedic space. The […]
Medtronic
Medtronic wins FDA approval for CareLink SmartSync CRM device manager
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) said today that it won pre-market approval from the FDA for the CareLink SmartSync device manager for use with its cardiac rhythm management devices. The approval gives the ability to use Apple iPads to program and manage data from pacemakers enabled with Medtronic’s BlueSync and an app that allows its Azure, Percepta, Serena, […]
Medtronic wins FDA nod for quadripolar Attain Stability left heart lead
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) said today it won FDA approval for its Attain Stability quad MRI SureScan left heart lead, touting it as the only active-fixation left heart lead on the market. The newly cleared Attain Stability left heart leads are meant to be paired with the Fridley, Minn.-based company’s quadripolar cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillators and pacemakers, and feature […]
Medtronic launches Solitaire X thrombectomy device in U.S.
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) said today that it launched its Solitaire X revascularization device intended for treating acute ischemic stroke in the U.S. The Fridley, Minn.-based company’s Solitaire stent retriever uses a micro-sized catheter to access arteries in the brain, restoring blood flow and removing blood clots that cause acute ischemic stroke. The Solitaire X is the company’s […]
Appeals court denies Medtronic in $24m loss to doc inventor
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) yesterday lost its bid for an appeals court review of its nearly $24 million loss in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by a physician inventor. In February 2014, Dr. Mark Barry alleged that Fridley, Minn.-based Medtronic infringed on three patents covering a “system and method for aligning vertebrae in the amelioration of aberrant spinal […]
Medtronic has big plans for robot-assisted spine surgery
Officials at the world’s largest medical device company think their Mazor X Stealth robot-assisted spinal surgical platform could move complex procedures from an art to a science. Medtronic is betting that robot-assisted surgery could be a game changer when it comes to spine surgeries. The company late last year closed on its $1.7 billion purchase of Mazor […]
Medtronic inks deal to distribute Alpha Omega’s neurosurgical nav tool
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) has inked an agreement with Israel-based medtech developer Alpha Omega to market its surgical navigation products designed for procedures in the brain, according to a recent Globes report. Prior to the agreement, Alpha Omega’s devices were offered as independent products and were mostly marketed to hospitals in Israel, according to the report. Alpha Omega […]
The grim stories behind seven of medtech’s worst failures
Medical devices save or restore thousands of patient lives every year, but the dark side to medtech innovation is increasingly drawing attention. For all the good the industry does, it’s worth remembering that the costs can be high – even fatal – when medical device companies don’t get things right. The examples range from women […]
Medtronic releases new data on Endurant, Valiant Navion stent grafts
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) today released new data on its stent graft program at the Charing Cross Symposium in London, touting two-year results for its Endurant line and 30-day data from a pilot study of its Valiant Navion device. The Fridley, Minn.-based medtech giant said preliminary two-year results from a study of the Endurant II/IIs devices, used […]
Medtronic touts five-year VenaSeal study data
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) today released five-year results from the VeClose extension study of its VenaSeal closure system, touting durable and consistent long-term outcomes with the system when used to treat patients with chronic venous disease. The VenaSeal device is a medical adhesive designed to close off the great saphenous vein for treating chronic venous insufficiency and varicose […]
More device shortages pegged to sterilization plant shutdown
More medtech companies are experiencing shortages of medical devices due to the sudden closure in February of a Sterigenics sterilization plant. Officials from Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH), and Guerbet (EPA:GBT) have written letters to customers indicating that certain devices are already in short supply or may experience shortages, Medical Device & Outsourcing has learned. The letter from Cardinal Health (Dublin, […]