St. Jude Medical completed its acquisition of Thoratec on Oct. 8, expanding its heart failure business and adding products such as the HeartMate II left ventricular assist device.

Express Scripts announced it would include the two recently FDA-approved proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors on its national preferred formulary, which covers approximately 25 million people in the U.S.

On Oct. 29 in Oakland, members of the California Technology Assessment Forum (CTAF) are expected to discuss and debate a report on the cost effectiveness of two recently FDA-approved heart failure treatments.

A jury in Ohio convicted cardiologist Harold Persaud of performing unnecessary tests and procedures and overbilling Medicare and private insurers by $7.2 million.

Hundreds of hospitals and health systems may have settled with the U.S. Justice Department in a probe into the overuse of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), according to a Modern Healthcare report.

Medtronic plc  (NYSE:MDT) today announced it has acquired Lazarus Effect, a Campbell, Calif.-based and privately-held medical device company focused on acute ischemic stroke products that facilitate the capture and removal of clots.

Zoll acquired Kyma Medical Technologies, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based developer of technologies to measure early signs of congestive heart failure. Terms of the deal were not announced.

A newly FDA-approved drug to treat congestive heart failure is cost-effective, while a device to treat the same disease is priced 60 percent higher than it should be, according to an Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) analysis. The researchers noted the two interventions could become the first breakthroughs in heart failure management in more than a decade.