Boston Scientific (Natick, Massachusetts) has launched an educational initiative called “Close the Gap,” aimed at addressing disparities in cardiovascular care for women, black Americans and Latino Americans, which it describes as “under-served populations.”

The company said the initiative is collaborating with a number of organizations, including WomenHeart, Black Coaches and Administrators, Athlete’s Heartbeat and the National Coalition of Pastors’ Spouses. It said that several National Collegiate Athletic Association member schools are also supporting Close the Gap. The campaign is being led by a steering committee of physicians from all across the country.

A primary focus of the campaign will be to raise awareness of sudden cardiac arrest as a leading cause of death among young athletes.

Cardiac/digestive disease hospital opened

The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC; Charleston) opens the doors of Ashley River Tower, its new state-of-the-art hospital designed to treat patients with cardiovascular and digestive disease problems.

MUSC said that Ashley River Tower marks the first step in its multi-phase expansion plan, which will ultimately replace the facility that for 50 years has served as the teaching hospital for MUSC.

The new 641,000 square foot facility has 156 beds, including 32 ICU beds, and nine operating rooms, catheterization laboratories, interventional radiology laboratories, endoscopy suites, imaging suites, outpatient clinic space and a dedicated around-the-clock chest pain center for rapid diagnosis and treatment. Specially sized equipment, treatment space and ICU beds accommodate bariatric surgery patients. The facility includes a division specializing in surgery for gastrointestinal cancers.

MUSC is home to more than 3,000 students and residents, as well as more than 10,000 employees, including 1,300 faculty members.

North American Scientific gets Nasdaq letter

North American Scientific (Chatsworth, California) today announced that it received a letter from The Nasdaq Stock Market providing notice that the company has demonstrated compliance with Nasdaq Marketplace Rules, and that the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel has determined to continue the listing of the company’s securities on Nasdaq.

In addition, the Nasdaq Staff has approved the company’s application to list its common stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market. The company’s common stock will be transferred from The Nasdaq Global Market to The Nasdaq Capital Market effective Feb. 6, 2008 and will continue to trade under the symbol “NASI.”

North American Scientific provides radiation therapy in the fight against cancer.

Stem Cell sales expected to reach $87M

Stem cell product sales in the U.S. totaled $36 million in 2007, a 119% increase from the previous year, and are expected to reach $87 million, a 144% increase, in 2008, according to Robin Young, CFA, a medical industry analyst ranked as one of The Wall Street Journal’s “Best on the Street” and among Institutional Investor’s top-10.

The projections are based on Young’s analysis of adult and human embryonic stem cell products sold or in development for the orthopedic, cardiovascular, anti-inflammatory, diabetes, nerve repair and dental markets.

“In recent months we’ve seen the largest stem cell product purchases in this fast-growing industry,” Young said. “Physicians have already treated several thousands of patients in the U.S. with stem cell products. Moreover, the results of the clinical trials involving these types of products have been very impressive. This is a transformational year with the first-ever human embryonic stem cell products expected to enter the clinic.”

Blue Shield to pay for psoriasis device

PhotoMedex (Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania) said that Blue Shield of California has adopted a medical policy effective Jan. 11, 2008, approving payment for medically necessary treatment of mild to moderate psoriasis using the PhotoMedex Xtrac laser system.

Blue Cross of California’s policy states that Xtrac laser therapy for the treatment of localized plaque psoriasis is considered medically necessary when certain criteria are met: psoriasis is limited to less than or equal to 20% of the patient’s body surface; and the patient has failed a previous two-month trial of conservative therapies including topical, oral and injectable medications.

PhotoMedex provides contract medical procedures to hospitals, surgi-centers and doctors’ offices.

AdvaMed ‘08 now accepting proposals

AdvaMed 2008, designed by industry and for industry, is now accepting panel proposals until the application deadline of March 21.

Any organization from or affiliated with the medical technology industry may submit a proposal to organize a full 90-minute panel at AdvaMed 2008. Panel applications are reviewed by AdvaMed staff and an independent Program Committee.

Selections are based on the following criteria: relevance, timeliness, educational content, audience appeal, knowledge and expertise of panelists.

To download panel proposal guidelines and an application, visitwww.advamed2008.com and click on the conference program area or e-mail:

program@advamed2008.com to receive the program guidelines and application.