• Apherma(Sunnyvale, California) reported the release of the Tahoe digital hearing technology for use in universal fit hearing products and an extension of Apherma’s open platform Sonoma II product. The Tahoe package is an all-digital multi-channel sound enhancement system with noise reduction and feedback elimination options. Tahoe offers six channels of digital sound, along with speech enhancement and clarity in noise. Tahoe also includes a feedback elimination system, Adaptive Echo Cancellation, to prevent the “squeal” typically associated with universal fit ear molds or plugs. Apherma said it is releasing the system through the original equipment manufacturing channel for availability to “the industry’s main producers.” Apherma specializes in designing open platform digital signal processors and support solutions for the hearing industry.

• EP MedSystems (West Berlin, New Jersey), a developer of electrophysiology (EP) products used in cardiac rhythm management, reported launch of the Intracardiac Echocardiography-guided Cardioversion to Help Interventional Procedures (CE-CHIP) multi-center trial, the company’s first clinical trial involving intracardiac ultrasound (ICE). The trial is a sequential Phase I and Phase II worldwide clinical trial comparing the cardiac imaging capabilities of ICE during a cardiac catheterization procedure vs. standard transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), a separate standalone procedure in Phase I. In Phase II immediate ICE-guided cardioversion is compared to a conventional cardioversion strategy of greater than three weeks of warfarin therapy in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Both phases are designed to reduce need for additional procedures and delays in cardioversion therapy for AF patients.

• Hospira (New Orleans) has introduced a new wireless version of the Hospira MedNet system, a customizable system that defines medication dose limits and tracks intravenous (IV) drug delivery to prevent dosing errors. The wireless component – introduced this week at the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN; Aliso Viejo, California) 2005 National Teaching Institute and Critical Care Exposition – combines Hospira MedNet medication management safety software with networking to provide scalable, upgradeable options for various facility sizes. The wireless version of MedNet establishes real-time send-and-receive capability and links to the hospital information network, providing easier access to drug dosing. Hospira MedNet is enhanced to store up to 2,700 IV drug and fluid names in a hospital-defined drug library, while providing specific limits for 18 clinical-care areas. Hospira is a medication delivery and pharmaceutical company created last year from the hospital products business of Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, Illinois).

• Impliant (Milford, Connecticut) said that its Tops System, the first total motion-preserving posterior spine implant to begin clinical trials, will be unveiled at last week’s meeting of the Spine Arthroplasty Society (North Palm Beach, Florida) in New York. Two papers were presented at the SAS Meeting in addition to a company-sponsored symposium to introduce the Tops System, a mobile posterior device designed to stabilize but not fuse the affected vertebral level to alleviate the pain of degenerative facet arthrosis, spondylolisthesis and spinal stenosis. The device is affixed to the spine via four pedicle screws using a posterior surgical approach. The Tops system is not yet FDA-approved.