“Take it back!” “No, I won’t take it back, you stop bothering me!” “I said . . . take it back!” No, I didn’t hear this exchange at the playground in my neighborhood. Nor did this occur at the customer service counter of my local department store. But rather, this is the tone of a med-tech spat taking place in the “virtual” sandbox that has been taking place this week; one which has caught the attention of industry observers. St. Jude Medical (St. Paul, Minnesota) is miffed about a recent paper published in the journal Heart Rhythm written by...

Medtronic (Minneapolis) said the FDA has approved an expanded indication for its cardiac resynchronization therapy with implantable cardioverter defibrillator (CRT-D) devices. With Tuesday's approval, the company says this advanced therapy can now be used earlier, in a mildly symptomatic heart failure patient population, potentially improving survival, reducing hospitalizations, and preventing disease progression.