After Johnson & Johnson (J&J, New Brunswick, New Jersey) said that it was going to discontinue its work in the drug eluting stent (DES) market, my eyes then began to focus on Medtronic (Minneapolis), which has recently taken a beating in the wallet and court of public opinion with its bone growth product, Infuse. I began asking myself how much longer before Medtronic finally abandons ship on this application. I mean if there ever was a shining example of a device that has caused problems for a company then Infuse is it. The med-tech juggernaut was dealt what one would...

A report complied by Wells Fargo Securities (San Francisco) analysts showing how medical device companies stock performed in the last three years during the recent financial crisis paints a picture of how firms might fare in the near future. (Medical Device Daily)

A vacuum cleaner isn't really something that a person would usually identify with medical technology, but researchers from McGill University (Montreal, Quebec) have developed an application that is based off the principles behind those cleaning tools. (Medical Device Daily)

Flexible Stenting Solutions (FSS; Eatontown, New Jersey) said the first two patients enrolled in its OPEN clinical trial have received treatment. The trial, which is both prospective and single-arm, will enroll up to 227 patients at as many as 40 clinical sites. (Medical Device Daily)

Maquet Cardiovascular (Mahwah, New Jersey) is taking two of its technologies and combining them to provide what it calls a novel approach to treat patients with left ventricular failure and other cardiac conditions. (Medical Device Daily)

Abiomed (Danvers, Massachusetts) reported that the first patient was enrolled in its MINI-AMI prospective, randomized, controlled multi-center study. (Medical Device Daily)

Cancer rates could increase by 50% leading to 15 million new cases in 2020, according to statistics from the World Health Organization (Geneva, Switzerland). From a clinical standpoint, the rapid increase in targeted and patient-specific cancer therapies is driving demand for molecular diagnostics. (Medical Device Daily)

In this first-of-its-kind U.S. health economic analysis, researchers from Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota) have found that using two way audio-video telemedicine to deliver stroke care, also known as telestroke, appears to be cost-effective for rural hospitals that don't have an around-the-clock neurologist, or stroke expert, on staff. The research is published in the Sept. 14, 2011, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology (St. Paul, Minnesota). (Medical Device Daily)