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This year's small but highly regarded Summer in Seattle (SIS) conference, whose stated goal is to provide a state-of-the-art perspective on the field of interventional cardiology and vascular therapies, was held here in the latter part of July amidst glorious summertime weather.
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Attendance at the 12th annual Medical Device Conference sponsored by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (Palo Alto, California), with events held here and up the road in Palo Alto, was up 6% from the previous year, totaling 465.
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Boston Scientific (Natick, Massachusetts) last month reported a historic quarter, saying its profit in the second quarter ended June 30 nearly tripled to $313 million, boosted by strong sales of its recently approved drug-eluting stents (DES) and favorable currency exchange rates.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS; Baltimore) announcement last month that it plans to create the Council on Technology and Innovation (CTI), replacing its Medicare Technology Council (MTC), is an attempt to move new technologies through the coverage process, if not more quickly, at least more openly.
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The UK Department of Health late last month named Cardiac Science (Irvine, California) as its sole provider of automated external defibrillators (AEDs). It plans to purchase about $3 million AEDs in a contract the company said represents the largest government purchase of such devices in history.
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Angiotech Pharmaceuticals (Vancouver, British Columbia), the provider of drug coatings for stents and other medical devices, closed its acquisition of NeuColl (Los Gatos, California) in an all-cash transaction of nearly $13 million. Previously, Angiotech had obtained an equity interest in NeuColl through the acquisition of Cohesion Technologies in January 2003.
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Alere Medical (Reno, Nevada) said it would provide its comprehensive heart failure management program to Humanas (Louisville, Kentucky) Medicare Advantage members who suffer from advanced congestive heart failure.
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Douglas Smith, PhD, has been promoted from director of engineering to vice president of engineering for CardiacAssist (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Max Klix-Saravia, formerly controller of the company, was promoted to vice president of finance. The former CFO position was vacated by F. Thomas Casey, who retired.
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Privately held Concentric Medical (Mountain View, California) received clearance from the FDA in mid-August to market the Merci Retriever, the first medical device cleared by that agency to remove blood clots from the brain in patients experiencing an ischemic stroke.
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