Hospitals

Night Read (Minnesota): Piper Jaffray says med tech stocks will beat market this year

That bodes well for Minnesota's publicly traded medical device companies, including St. Jude Medical Inc., SurModics Inc. and Rochester Medical Corp., which were among the first to begin reporting fourth-quarter and yearly results last week.

By Thomas Lee on February 01, 2010 6:02 pm

Here are some news/notes from a day in MedCity, Minnesota:

Med-tech stocks are poised to outperform the overall market this year, Minneapolis-based Piper Jaffray Cos. told investors, according to the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, thanks to a gradually strengthening economy for health care consumers.

In the aftermath of Haiti’s horrific earthquake, Phrazer, a start-up Duluth technology company, was contacted by the federal government to see whether its landmark translation device could help victims with heath-care needs, according to the Duluth News Tribune.

Researchers have long been finding residues from pharmaceuticals and personal care products in local lakes and rivers, according to Minnesota Public Radio. Some of them are endocrine disruptors and can cause fish to develop both male and female characteristics.

Meet Dr. James Eelkema, a family doctor who got so tired of the paperwork he cut loose and started a cash-only practice, according to the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. Eelkema, who has been treating patients for 30 years, quit a large family medicine clinic last summer and set up his own shop, TimeWise Medical, in Burnsville. He does the blood draws. He does the urine analysis. He even make house calls.

A Mayo Clinic facility in Scottsdale, Arizona was named one of the best hospitals in the country, according to KTAR Radio.

ATS Medical Inc. named Xavier Bertrand vice president and general manager of Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Bertrand is a former executive at Boston Scientific who most recently served as vice president of global marketing at Biosensors International.