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Cleveland Clinic deal ‘home run’ with Lowe’s: (Weekend Rounds)

Six months after it struck a deal to have Cleveland Clinic doctors perform heart surgeries on its employees and their families, home improvement retailer Lowe's calls early returns on the alliance a "home run." And St. Jude Medical is feeling the momentum mojo.

By Mary Vanac on October 23, 2010 10:59 am

Here are some of the top stories at MedCity News this week:

  • Six months after it struck a deal to have Cleveland Clinic doctors perform heart surgeries on its employees and their families, home improvement retailer Lowe’s calls early returns on the alliance a “home run.” That’s because more Lowes’ employees have chosen the Clinic for cardiac surgery than the North Carolina-based retailer initially projected, according to spokeswoman Karen Cobb.
  • Earnings reports are good ways to measure a company’s financial performance. What they’re less useful for is gauging a company’s confidence. You know… Mojo. Swagger. Groove. And here’s what I see: Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) always had it. Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE:BSX) has lost it. And St. Jude Medical Inc. (NYSE:STJ) is feeling it.
  • EarlySense has raised $7 million in investment funding to continue commercializing its patient monitoring system for hospitals and acute care centers, bringing its fundraising for the year to an impressive $20 million. The company’s EverOn system already has received regulatory clearance for sale in the United States and European Union, and the new funding will be used to “accelerate the global launch” of the system.
  • When St. Jude Medical Inc. (NYSE:STJ) completes its $1.3 billion acquisition of AGA Medical Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: AGAM) at the end of the year, it will end one of the quickest exits in Wall Street history. Lost in the hoopla over St. Jude’s all-cash, $20.80-a-share offer for AGA: Plymouth, Minnesota-based AGA agreed to sell itself less than one year after its initial public offering. So why did AGA lose its nerve?
  • Drug company SurModics Inc. (NASDAQ:SRDX) is cutting 13 percent of its workforce and reorganize its business units as it struggles to reverse falling sales and profits. The company based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, said a week ago it will lay off around 30 of its 250 or so workers. SurModics, which estimates it will save between $3 million and $3.5 million a year by making the move, will take a one-time restructuring charge of $1.3 million to $1.7 million during the first quarter of 2011.