The Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed; Washington), the largest medical technology lobby group in the U.S., held its annual meeting last week in Washington DC. The meeting offered an excellent snapshot of all the exciting developments occurring in this critical sector of the healthcare field. While the med-tech market has encountered some challenging headwinds over the past few years on the regulatory and reimbursement fronts as well as in the venture capital markets, there are signs that the sector is headed for a dramatic rebound. A report released at the meeting provided by EvaluateMedTech forecasts the industry approaching $455 billion...
WASHINGTON — The medical technology sector has been plagued recently by myriad issues that have conspired to make the industry a tough sell to the investment community. Iian Scott, lead analyst for Ernst & Young's (EY; London) Lifescience group, called the three primary problems a "perfect storm for the industry."
WASHINGTON — While 2013 has been a rough year for the med-tech market, a report from EvaluateMedTech forecasts happier days ahead, with the industry approaching $455 billion in global sales in 2018.
In a recent issue of Medical Device Daily, Integrity Life Sciences (ILS; Tampa) reported that FDA will investigate the use of robotic surgery, a move said to be sparked by a tripling of adverse events reports between 2008 and 2012. The company statement indicates that the more than 1,400 U.S. hospitals deploying surgical robots have filed enough reports to render a report rate that is a "higher than acceptable rate," although the announcement acknowledges that the data do not clearly disclose whether "the failure is attributable to the robot itself, operator error, the FDA marketing clearance process, or the training...
Ask anyone in the med-tech field, or any other manufacturing field for that matter, where the largest majority of emerging markets for their businesses reside and chances are they will say somewhere in Asia, with China being the first country to likely cross their lips. With more than 600 billion people and a combined GDP of $2.3 trillion, the ten nations that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are already experiencing dramatic economic growth. This is especially true of the medical device market, which in 2012 was worth more than $4 billion. Roughly 65% of the $4...
For years, numerous companies have been developing implantable devices to stimulate the vagal nerve for treatment of such diverse conditions as epilepsy, depression, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cluster headaches and for weight loss. Now, a company has come along with a potentially game changing technology that can non-invasively stimulate the vagal nerve.
SAN FRANCISCO — When Omar Ishrak took over 18 months ago as CEO of Medtronic (Minneapolis), one of the largest med-tech companies in the world, he identified some major changes he wanted to make both in strategy and internal structure. During a wide-ranging interview with Medical Device Daily at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Ishrak noted that much has been accomplished, but he stressed that the company still has more to do in order for it to be at the level that he has envisioned for Medtronic's future.
