Here are some of the top stories at MedCity News this week:
— Atricure Inc. (NASDAQ: ATRC), the maker of cardiac surgical ablation systems, received a conditional nod from the Food and Drug Administration to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a hybrid procedure to treat patients with persistent forms of atrial fibrillation. The hybrid procedure “represents a key growth platform” for AtriCure and other companies that seek to serve the atrial fibrillation market, said AtriCure’s president and CEO David Drachman. A significant hurdle for potential market players stands in the way: the FDA has yet to approve cardiac ablation as a treatment for atrial fibrillation.
— Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) and St. Jude Inc. (NYSE: STJ) in Minnesota released similar wireless transmission devices that are designed to send data from patients’ implanted cardiac devices to physicians. It’s tempting to say that the new wireless transmitters are competing products, but each works only with each company’s proprietary medical devices, such as defibrillators and pacemakers. Each new device allows for patients to send data from their cardiac medical devices via cellular networks, rather than having to rely on dialup phone lines.
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— The Heart Rhythm Society annual meeting is arguably the most important conference for big cardiac medical device makers like Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT), based in Fridley, Minn., and Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX). It’s an ideal forum for companies to release significant clinical data. With all due respect to Medtronic, one small company in California stole some major thunder even before the conference began. Cameron Health Inc., based in San Clemente, announced promising results from a clinical study testing the first-of-its-kind implantable cardioverter defibrillator: a subcutaneous system without any leads (wires connecting the pulse generator to the heart).
— Pharmaceuticals distributor Cardinal Health Inc. in Dublin, Ohio, has reached 500 retail pharmacies with its health network and hopes to sign up thousands more. Cardinal’s Pharmacy Health Network, which was launched in August, enables pharmaceutical and consumer health companies to run video advertisements and health education content on 32-inch, flat-panel LCD screens placed in retail pharmacies within reach of consumers.
— Dr. Brian Duncan caught the business bug as the only clinician on a team of Cleveland Clinic researchers who set out in 2004 to develop a heart-assist pump for infants with heart failure. As administrator of a $4.2 million grant budget, Duncan began to think about business school. In March, Duncan left the Clinic to become Ohio venture partner for Arboretum Ventures and vice president of business development for BioEnterprise, the bioscience company developer in Northeast Ohio. “In the back of my mind, I thought that being a venture investor was where I would ultimately go with my career,” said Duncan who sat down with MedCity News to talk about his dual role.
