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From the News Editor
Vendors Shiver in Cooling Economic Climate
 The past week has seen cardiovascular industry vendors restructure core businesses, layoff personnel, and create spin-off ventures in order to meet challenging economic forces.
Monday, Angiotech was the first company to announce major changes, stating its intention to schism the majority of its non-stent businesses into a single subsidiary. Dwindling stent sales have caused the necessity of this new company, and the need for Angiotech to raise $300 from venture capitalists to pay off debts.
Tuesday, Siemens' CEO Peter Loescher announced that it would be forced to cut nearly 3,000 employees from its healthcare sector and nearly 17,000 employees across all its industries. The company noted its drastic cuts were an attempt to keep pace with its competitors.
Wednesday, Cardinal Health joined the ranks of restructuring and cost-saving layoffs. The company will let 600 employees go and divide its business structure into two major segments, maintaining only a ‘lean corporate organization' to connect them.
In the clinical realm, recent studies may identify new, more inexpensive ways to identify cardiovascular risks. An ankle brachial index, a cheap and easy tool, may improve the accuracy of cardiovascular risk prediction beyond the Framingham risk score, according to a large JAMA study.
Another study in the American Journal of Cardiology found that CADILLAC, TIMI and PAMI risk scores all have a relatively high predictive accuracy for high-risk STEMI patients.
Please stop by our Healthcare Tech Guide to find out more about the technology options available from various cardiovascular vendors.
On these topics, or any others, please feel free to contact me.
Justine Cadet, News Editor
jcadet@cardiovascularbusiness.com |
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| Top Stories |
Senate passes Medicare bill to President Bush
 The Senate Wednesday overcame partisan gridlock to pass the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (H.R. 6331) by a veto-majority of 69-30, which now goes to President George W. Bush for consideration.
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Siemens to cut nearly 3,000 healthcare jobs in company-wide layoffs
 Siemens' CEO Peter Loescher announced Tuesday that the company plans to eliminate 16,750 jobs throughout the company, including 2,800 from its healthcare sector, as it seeks to boost profit margins to the level of its competitors.
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FDA panel says diabetes drugs must face tougher CV trials
 Pharmaceutical companies that produce diabetes drugs or biologics with no cardiovascular (CV) safety signal during clinical trials should be required to submit long-term CV trial results, or provide other evidence to rule out an unacceptable level of CV risk, according to a recent ruling from an FDA panel.
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JAMA: Cheap, noninvasive tool may predict cardiovascular risk
 An ankle brachial index measurement may improve the accuracy of cardiovascular risk prediction beyond the Framingham risk score, according to a study in the July 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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Financial News
CMS proposes 3% increase for hospital outpatient payments
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has a new proposed rule, including a 3 percent annual inflation update, which will update payment rates for calendar year 2009. CMS is seeking additional quality improvement measures from providers.
Cardinal Health restructuring will cut 600 jobs
Cardinal Health is consolidating its businesses into two primary operating and reporting segments and reducing its workforce by approximately 600 positions to reduce costs and align resources with the needs of each segment.
North American cardiovascular PACS market to reach $670M by 2014
The North American cardiovascular image management systems (CV-PACS) market earned revenues of $272 million in 2007 and is estimated to reach $670 million by 2014, according to new analysis from market research firm Frost & Sullivan.
Bush approves $150M budget boost for FDA
President George W. Bush has approved a supplemental appropriations bill, giving the FDA an additional $150 million for its 2008-2009 fiscal year budget.
European remote patient monitoring markets to reach $400M in 2014
The quality and benefits of available remote patient monitoring (RPM) technology are making the devices increasingly attractive, despite the costs historically involved, according to a new report from Frost & Sullivan, a market research firm.
Pharma outsourcing could be $5B remedy to costly drug discovery process
The global drug discovery outsourcing market reached $5.4 billion in 2007 and should continue to grow 16 percent annually through 2013, according to a new report from Kalorama Information, a market research firm.
Industry News
Angiotech spins-off non-stent businesses; raises nearly $300M
Angiotech Pharmaceutical's board of directors has created a new subsidiary, Angiotech Pharmaceutical Interventions (API), which will primarily include business assets other than the intellectual property and royalty revenue related to the Taxus coronary stent system.
UnitedHealth cuts outlook and jobs; pays $895M in settlement
UnitedHealth Group is attempting to improve its financial performance with a cost-cutting measure that would slash 4,000 jobs and a lower fiscal 2008 profit outlook. Meanwhile, the company simultaneously doled out $895 million in a California class-action lawsuit settlement.
Pediatric medical association recommends statins for 8-year-olds
The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued new recommendations, suggesting that children and adolescents with a family history of high cholesterol or heart disease should have a cholesterol screening.
Pfizer to stop funding physician CME programs
Pfizer is changing the way it supports continuing medical education (CME) initiatives for U.S. healthcare professionals.
Terumo files patent infringement suit for endoscopic vessel harvesting system
Terumo Cardiovascular Systems has filed a patent infringement complaint in Germany against two affiliates of Maquet Cardiovascular, alleging that two of Maquet's endoscopic vessel harvesting systems, infringe Terumo's German patents.
Clinical Studies
CCI: Taxus and SES perform similarly in STEMI patients
In STEMI patients, there were no statistically significant differences for adverse events between the Cypher sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) and the Taxus paclitaxel-eluting stent (PES), but binary angiographic in-segment restenosis and in-segment late loss were significantly lower in the SES group, according to a randomized trial in the July issue of Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions.
AJC: Risk scores may assist identification of high-risk STEMI patients
Risk stratification of patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI using three different risk scores provides important prognostic information and allows accurate identification of high-risk patients, according to a registry in the July issue of American Journal of Cardiology.
AJR: Imaging vessel wall identifies vulnerable plaque in CTA
While calcium scoring adds prognostic value to standard risk factors and serum markers, imaging the vessel wall directly may be helpful to identify non-calcified plaque and guide therapy, according to a study published in the July issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.
HRS: Cryoablation may be as effective as radiofrequency to treat atrial flutter
Catheter cryoablation is comparably effective to radiofrequency catheter ablation for the treatment of atrial flutter (AFL) and may also have several safety advantages over the use of radiofrequency, according to a study published in the July edition of the HeartRhythm.
NEJM: Vasopressin offers no added benefit for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
As compared with epinephrine alone, the combination of vasopressin and epinephrine during advanced cardiac life support for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest does not improve outcome, according to a study in the July 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Abbott commences U.S. post-approval Xience V study
Abbott has begun the Xience V USA post-approval study, with six U.S. hospital centers already recruiting and enrolling patients, one week after the FDA approved Xience V everolimus-eluting coronary stent system.
New Products
Boston Scientific introduces peripheral imaging catheter
Boston Scientific has launched its Atlantis 018 peripheral imaging catheter, designed for small vessel peripheral imaging.
RADI launches updated pressure sensing guidewire
RADI Medical Systems has released improvements to its latest generation pressure sensing guidewire, PressureWire Certus, which will begin shipments immediately.
Regulatory News
United Therapeutics, Lung Rx submit NDA for inhalational threpostinil
United Therapeutics and its wholly owned subsidiary, Lung Rx, have submitted a new drug application (NDA) to the FDA for marketing approval of an inhaled formulation of treprostinil for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).
Mergers & Acquisitions
St. Jude completes $91M acquisition of EP MedSystems
St. Jude Medical has completed its previously announced acquisition of EP MedSystems for approximately $91 million, which will expand the company's atrial-fibrillation business.
Honeywell acquires barcode scanner developer Metrologic for $720M
Honeywell has completed the acquisition of Metrologic Instruments, a manufacturer of barcode scanner technology used in patient and pharmacy management, for approximately $720 million.
Medical Ventures becomes Neovasc after two acquisitions, $8.3M financing
Medical Ventures, a developer and marketer of specialty vascular devices, has changed its name to Neovasc and expanded its product portfolio, as the company completed the acquisition of two vascular product development companies.
Contracts & Installations
Biomedical Systems expands Digisonics deal for viewing cardiovascular studies
Biomedical Systems, a global provider of centralized diagnostic services for clinical trials, has expanded its DigiView network from Digisonics to include additional workstations for review, analysis and reporting of cardiovascular studies.
Executive Announcements
ICON Medical Imaging creates cardiac imaging advisory board
ICON has established a Cardiac Scientific Advisory Board comprised of experts across several cardiology disciplines, which will advise ICON's Medical Imaging division on strategic initiatives, including the role of cardiac imaging in clinical trials, and the safety and adjudication of clinical events.
Thurman as chairman for CardioNet as founder departs
CardioNet's board of directors has appointed Randy Thurman as executive chairman. |
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