Technology

Today sees J&J’s annual business review at which the company says it will lay out its strategic ideas for growth. Its press release offers few surprises and could be summarised as “more of the same”, which is no bad thing looking at the financial results for 2012.

Mussel-inspired adhesives have been proposed before in surgical applications, the chemistry employed by the shellfish to anchor them to rocks being considered transferable to the operating room. A new article from Pennsylvania State University researchers brings things up to date.

UK pharma outfit, Shire plc , is to acquire Lotus Tissue Repair, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company developing the first and only protein replacement therapy currently being investigated for the treatment of dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB). DEB is a devastating orphan disease for which there is no currently approved treatment option other than palliative care.

Manchester University researchers have developed a camera that can be used to take 3D colour X-ray images, in near real time, without the need for a synchrotron X-ray source. Imagine the medical possibilities.

Medical device research organisation NAMSA, is sponsoring a comprehensive symposium based on the definitive new book, “Biocompatibility and Performance of Medical Devices,” in London, England, February 12-14.

The UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published new guidance supporting the use of the Exogen device to heal long bone fractures with non-union at 9 months, but uncertainties in the evidence mean the jury is still out on 3 month old non-unions.

Heart assist device company Thoratec Corporation has announced that the U.S. FDA has granted an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) to commence the REVIVE-IT study utilising the HeartMate II® Left Ventricular Assist System.

Medical Modeling Inc., has received FDA 510(k) clearance for its innovative VSP® System product line. Initial applications of the technology include products such as VSP® Orthognathics – Applying virtual surgical planning and CAD/CAM surgical splints to the area of orthognathic surgery, and VSP® Reconstruction – Applying virtual surgical planning to the reconstruction of the mandible or maxilla using vascularized grafts from other areas of the body.

Smith & Nephew plc has completed the acquisition of substantially all the assets of Healthpoint Biotherapeutics for $782 million in cash, financed from Smith & Nephew’s existing cash resources and bank facilities.

Californian device company Nanostim, Inc., has announced the first successful implants of a leadless pacemaker in a series of 11 patients at Homolka Hospital in Prague, Czech Republic.

In recent years defibrillators have popped up everywhere from the shopping mall to the train station. It seems a gap in the requirement for regular testing and maintenance leaves them open to failure. A UK company has a simple test rig to address the problem.

A therapy as potentially huge as renal denervation is bound to be tied up in claim and counterclaim, and downright confusion about who owns what. A new article tries to unpick it all.

We’re never quite sure about the sense behind this HDE regulation. It seems to allow products onto the market as staging posts for later broader approval, making the initial limited audience look a bit like guinea pigs.

Insulet Corporation, has gained 510(k) clearance to market what it’s calling the “next-generation” OmniPod® Insulin Management System, more than a third smaller and a quarter lighter than the original model

A 38-year-old female is discharged from Manchester Royal Infirmary (Manchester, England) after successful PICSO treatment designed to improve myocardial perfusion following primary PCI

GE Healthcare will be integrating Covidien’s Nellcor™ pulse oximetry with OxiMax™ technology into its Giraffe® and Panda® infant warmers, in a move which will help clinicians safely monitor infants for life-threatening and respiratory complications.