Last year, the Global Sepsis Alliance said that sepsis is a medical emergency beyond national borders and likely a major cause of death worldwide, claiming tens of millions of lives every year. The most life-threatening forms of sepsis severe sepsis and septic shock have a combined mortality rate of 30-35%.

A simple device solution designed by researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin (Milwaukee) could help treat patients suffering from the complex problem of acid reflux.

In the past few years, med-tech start-ups have had to face some steep challenges in securing venture capital funding. VC's are more skittish about investing in med-tech companies for a variety of different reasons, which include the state of today's economy and an unpredictable regulatory approval process. The very nature of funding rounds is changing.

Covidien (Mansfield, Massachusetts) said that it will indeed acquire superDimension (Minneapolis), a private company that develops minimally invasive interventional pulmonology devices, for roughly $300 million - thus ending speculation about the merger, which first surfaced late last week.

ATLANTA What makes a company attractive for a merger or an acquisition? A small panel during the Southeastern Medical Device Association's (SEMDA; Norcross Georgia) annual meeting discussed what companies should do to be placed on the radar to be acquired.

ATLANTA Medical device companies are in a unique position these days. The 510 (k) process is starting to look a lot like the PMA approval process and the A-round company is yesterday's B-round company. What was once down is up and med-tech companies are finding themselves in a perfect storm battling difficult regulation and what could be perceived as harmful legislation.

ATLANTA With a tougher regulatory environment and the U.S. in the process of trying to rebound from a tumultuous downturn in the economy, medical device companies have found it increasingly difficult to secure venture capital dollars in recent years.

Asahi Kasei (Tokyo, Japan), a chemical manufacturer with businesses in the healthcare, chemicals/fibers, homes/construction materials, and electronics sectors, reported that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Zoll Medical (Chelmsford, Massachusetts), a manufacturer of resuscitation and critical care devices and related software solutions, for about $2.21 billion.