A wearable ventilator system led to fewer hospital visits for patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency, according to new data presented at the American College of Chest Physicians' annual meeting in Montreal. The study evaluated 16 oxygen-dependent patients with moderate to very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who wore a non-invasive open ventilation (NIOV) system from Breathe Technologies Inc. (Irvine, Calif.) in addition to their standard medical care regimen. The NIOV is FDA cleared but is not covered by Medicare as a stand-alone therapy.

Endologix (Irvine, Calif.) drew wildly mixed reactions from analysts after reporting its proposed merger with competitor Trivascular Technologies (Santa Rosa, Calif.) in a cash and stock deal valued at $211 million. Both companies are players in the competitive endovascular aortic repair (EVAR) market.

In line with U.S. orthopedic trends spotted across the market, Stryker (Kalamazoo, Mich.) has delivered a minimum of 5 percent organic sales growth for the tenth consecutive quarter, although weak international sales did drag growth to 5.3 percent compared to the 6.9 percent growth Stryker reported in the second quarter. Kevin Lobo, Stryker's chairman/CEO, said all three business segments delivered year-over-year sales growth during the third quarter, driven by strong U.S. momentum and the company's diversified model.