In an economy where people are more careful with their money than ever before, even the big guys in the industry have to take a disciplined approach with their business model. That was the take-home message from Medtronic (Minneapolis) CEO Omar Ishrak Monday at the 30th annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. (MDD Perspectives)

Smith & Nephew (S&N; London) reported FDA clearance of its pocket-sized PICO system, a single use negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) system. PICO is cleared for use both in a hospital and homecare setting and expands the use of NPWT from the traditional wound care population to include a wider range of patients undergoing orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery and general surgical procedures. This FDA clearance follows the recent launch of PICO in Europe, Canada, and Australia, the company noted.

The New Year's ball has dropped, signaling the time of year when Wall Street analysts polish up their crystal balls and tell us what they see for the industry in the year ahead. Thursday Joanne Wuensch of BMO Capital Markets (New York) hosted a call to discuss her 176-page 2012 MedTech Outlook report, released Wednesday after the close of markets, which included a number of rating changes.

St. Jude Medical (St. Paul, Minnesota) says it has met a stopping rule in its RESPECT clinical trial triggered by reaching the protocol-required number of primary events in the trial, defined as stroke and all-cause mortality and is closing patient enrollment.

Surgeons should be getting a couple new tools to be excited about in the not-too-distant future a flexible vessel sealer and a flexible stapler from TransEnterix (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina).

While few venture capitalists and venture-backed med-tech CEOs were sad to see 2011 come to an end, the outlook for 2012 might be even less optimistic in some respects, according to this year's Venture View predictions survey. (Medical Device Daily)