A Medical Device Daily

EaglePicher Medical Power (Vancouver, British Columbia) last week reported the successful qualification of the Micro Battery, what it called the industry’s smallest implantable-grade medical battery.

The company said the battery’s size and shape (cylindrical, 0.260” long by 0.090” diameter) enables a device so small that it can be deployed via a minimally-invasive catheter procedure rather than traditional implantation surgery.

The device, currently undergoing clinical trials in Europe, is at least 50% smaller and lighter than known commercially available products, according to EaglePicher. The company said it is based on new cell construction developed by the company with electrical capacity that exceeds the original design objective by a factor of five.

The resulting battery theoretically can be powered for 15 years, according to the company. It said that the Micro Battery will create “new opportunities” for device manufacturers in neurological catheters, cardiovascular monitoring and neural prostheses such as retinal and cochlear implants.

EaglePicher Medical Power is a supplier of batteries to manufacturers of implantable medical devices, including batteries for cardio defibrillators, heart monitors, heart re-synchronizers and neuromodulation systems, among others.

Abraham, McCarthy investigators for C-Pulse trial

Sunshine Heart (Sydney, Australia) reported that William Abraham, MD, of The Ohio State University (OSU; Columbus) and Patrick McCarthy, MD, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Chicago), will be the co-principal investigators for the company’s C-Pulse feasibility trial in the U.S.

“The participation of Drs. Abraham and McCarthy as co-principal investigators with their combined experience in the management of heart failure and expertise as clinical investigators will add great credibility to the C-Pulse trial within the international medical community,” said Donald Rohrbaugh, CEO of Sunshine.

C-Pulse is an implantable, non-blood contacting, mechanical heart assist device for the treatment of heart failure. The C-Pulse Cuff consists of a wrap and a balloon, placed around the aorta just above the heart. The balloon is inflated and deflated to the rhythm of the heart to improve blood supply to both the body and the heart muscle, while reducing the workload on the heart. The C-Pulse Driver is an external wearable unit that is linked by an air tube to the cuff and detects the heart’s natural rhythm and controls inflation and deflation of the balloon in rhythm with the heart.

Abraham has participated in more than 100 drug and device clinical trials and has been an investigator for several heart failure pacemaker trials of Medtronic (Minneapolis). He is a professor of internal medicine, division director of cardiovascular medicine and deputy director of the Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute at OSU.

McCarthy is the Heller-Sacks professor of surgery, division chief of cardiothoracic surgery and co-director of the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at the Feinberg School of Medicine. He has been a clinical investigator in trials of several heart assist devices and chairman of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons/American Association for Thoracic Surgery Joint Working Group on New Technology.

Canadian license for portable scanner

NeuroLogica (Danvers, Massachusetts), a neuroscience-based medical imaging company, said that its CereTom portable computed tomography (CT) scanner has received the Canadian Medical License. The approval will allow entry of the cordless scanner into hospitals, walk-in clinics and private-practice medical offices throughout that country.

“This is a major accomplishment for our company, and it will allow us to further our mission of bringing greater access globally to quality, mobile neuro-imaging,” said Eric Bailey, president and co-founder of NeuroLogica. “Hospitals in Canada will have access to more rapid scans for critical patients as [our] portable CT scanner will ultimately improve patient care.”

The CereTom is now installed at 30 hospitals and medical centers across the U.S. and Europe.

Bridgetech separates China, domestic units

Bridgetech Holdings International (San Diego), focused on pushing forward emerging healthcare products and services in China, reported purchasing a controlling interest in ECash through the merger of Bridgetech’s wholly owned Clarity Imaging International subsidiary and ECash.

The company said the purchase of the controlling interest of ECash is for the purpose of separating Bridgetech’s Chinese and domestic healthcare interests. It said ECash will be comprised solely of the current business operations of Clarity.

Michael Chermak, CEO and chairman of Bridgetech, said, “This division of our domestic and international interests strengthens our business and revenue model and will enable Bridgetech to focus on building its operations and continuing expansion throughout China.”

Bridgetech is bringing emerging devices, diagnostics and drugs to China, with an initial focus on oncology.

Singapore distributor buys Biofield systems

Biofield (Philadelphia) said that a Singapore distributor has ordered the Biofield Diagnostic Electropotentials System and three cases of sensors, representing enough complete sets for 600 exams. The company said the distributor — not named — is an industry leader in biomedical engineering and serves all the major medical centers and hospitals in Singapore.

Biofield said it believes that other orders will follow from this and other purchasers in Asia, Latin America and other parts of the world, based on existing marketing efforts. Biofield also will provide training and other services.

Each case contains sensors for tests on 200 female patients. Each test requires a set of 18 individual single-use sensors. Depending on the test results, a female patient may need to undergo several tests a year.

Biofield said there are “great opportunities” for its technology in Singapore, which has 1.75 million women ages 15-64.

Biofield is focused on the development of noninvasive diagnostic medical devices to assist in detecting breast cancer. The Biofield Diagnostic System employs single-use sensors to measure and analyze changes in cellular electrical charge distributions associated with the development of epithelial cancers, such as breast, ovaries, skin, prostate and colon cancers.