Covidien (Mansfield, Massachusetts) has enrolled the first patients in the ILLUMENATE pivotal and ILLUMENATE PK (Pharmacokinetics) trials. Both are components of the global ILLUMENATE clinical trial program, a series of studies on the safety and effectiveness of Covidien's Stellarex drug-coated angioplasty balloon for the treatment of patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD).

Abbott (Abbott Park, Illinois) appeared to be on a shopping spree of sorts Monday morning, reporting that it would buy OptiMedica (Sunnyvale, California) for up to $400 million and, in a separate deal, Idev Technologies for $310 million (Webster, Texas). These deals follow the company's recent spinout of its branded prescription business into a separate company, AbbVie. Abbott now focuses on medical devices, nutritional products and generic medicines.

The healthcare industry has seen a rapid uptick in healthcare IT (HIT) adoption, thanks in large part to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which contains incentives specifically aimed at accelerating provider adoption of electronic health record (EHR) systems. And the scope of healthcare IT spreads far behind EHRs.

  Writing about medical devices on a daily basis without ever seeing the inside of a life sciences laboratory or a healthcare facility would be a bit like a sports writer who never steps foot inside a stadium. And yet many of us journalists rarely get the opportunity to see where all the magic happens in the industries we cover so faithfully. Recently I had an opportunity, for the second time, to visit nearly a dozen life...

TORONTO — In this era of regulatory hurdles and reimbursement challenges that often have an adverse effect on innovation, it was refreshing for Medical Device Daily to visit a place last week where people from all across the life sciences spectrum come together under one roof to nurture innovation. And it all happens in Canada's largest city, Toronto, right in the heart of Ontario's life sciences research community, a stone's throw from the University of Toronto and seven specialty hospitals. It is the innovation center dubbed the MaRS Discovery District.