Today marks the kickoff of Advamed 2014 – the country’s premiere med tech conference in which gaggles of device companies (2,500 attendees) congregate in Chicago’s McCormick Place. The conference examine topics like regulatory and reimbursement strictures, legal and IP law, marketing, quality, compliance and other key responsibilities as they apply to the medical device sector. Hillary Clinton’s delivering the keynote this Wednesday.
One of the cooler parts of this conference, for investors in particular, will be the company presentations that’ll take place through the course of the conference. They span the device sector in a number of categories; see them here. Some of the more interesting ones include:
Cardiovascular
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
Angel Medical Systems: A pacemaker-like implantable device that monitors the heart rate’s electrical signal around the clock. Meant for those who are at high risk of having a heart attack, the company’s so-called Guardian System looks for subtle changes that indicate the heart isn’t getting enough oxygen. It can ostensibly detect even minor heart attacks that don’t cause any symptoms – alerting patients with a buzzing pager-like device to head to the hospital. The New Jersey company’s device is currently commercially available in Brazil, has had CE market approval and is in the midst of a 900-patient Phase II study in the U.S.
Patient Monitoring, Imaging & Health IT
LumaMed: A tool for surgeons that can visualize the line that separates normal, healthy tissue from diseased, cancerous tissue. The Georgia-based company’s LumaScan products use a technique called polarization subtraction imaging can show high-res images of the different layers of a patient’s tissue in real time, rather than taking tissue to the laboratory.
Surgical Devices and Instruments
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
Fibralign: Developing Nanoweave bioscaffolding that can be used in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. It assembles the collagen-based scaffolding so it mimics human tissue structure and directly influences cell behavior, the company says. The company’s product helps medical devices get naturally incorporated into the neighboring tissue.
In Vitro Diagnostics
Aperiomics: A bioinformatics company “with a mission to detect any pathogen” from human, agricultural and environmental samples through next-gen sequencing. With one test, it simultaneously tests for viral, bacterial, fungal and parasite pathogens.
Orthopedic and Wound Management
Sharklet Technologies: A material patterned after a shark’s microbe-resistant skin that can be used in surgery because its texture inhibits bacterial growth – including MRSA, E. Coli and other Staph infections. The Colorado company is developing a urinary catheter made out of the Sharklet material, and is looking to enhance several other medical devices with the technology.
Neurology & Oncology
NeuroRecovery Technologies: The company’s tech, from UCLA, CalTech and the University of Louisville, designs devices to help function and movement for those with paralysis. NeuroRecovery asserts its stimulation devices restore voluntary movement and independent standing, as well as restored bladder and bowel function, temperature regulation, blood pressure and sexual function in a small sample pool of 20 subjects with partial or complete paralysis.
