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While its competitors waged full-scale war on the PR front over the past month, St. Jude Medical (St. Paul, Minnesota) bided its time, awaiting the presentation of results from key clinical trials at the American College of Cardiology (Bethesda, Maryland) meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, in early March.
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Compared to the sunny weather outside, attendees at the 29th annual International Stroke Conference inside the beautiful San Diego Convention Center in early February were confronted with the ongoing frustrations of limited therapeutic options for the 750,000 often-devastating strokes that occur annually in the U.S.
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The cytokine interleukin-6 plays an important role in triggering the rapid damage to heart muscle function that can develop in people with septic shock following infection with meningococci, a condition that often is fatal. The team making that discovery says it will be important to investigate IL-6 as a target for therapeutic agents.
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Guidant (Indianapolis, Indiana) has completed its acquisition of AFx (Fremont, California), a portfolio company of Alta Partners. AFx will receive an up-front cash payment of $45 million and various predetermined milestone payments.
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Applied Medical (Rancho Santa Margarita, California) said it has been awarded a supplier agreement with Premier (San Diego, California) for endomechanical kits, ligation systems and trocars. The contract is the third supplier agreement between Applied Medical and Premier Purchasing Partners, the group purchasing organization of Premier.
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Manufacturers of drugs and certain over-the-counter medications used in hospitals have been given two years to include linear bar codes on product labels. The requirement is designed to protect patients from preventable medication errors and to reduce the overall cost of healthcare, Tommy Thompson, secretary of Health and Human Services, said late last month.
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Abiomed (Danvers, Massachusetts) reported several recent hires. Kim Byrum Chappell joins the company as a clinical field consultant. Most recently, she was employed by Jewish Hospital, one of the clinical sites for the clinical trial of Abiomeds AbioCor implantable replacement heart, in various positions.
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The use of combination evidence-based pharmacologic therapy was associated with lower 6-month mortality in patients with ACS.
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Patients with lone atrial flutter have an increased risk for thromboembolic events and use of anticoagulation is urged for all patients with atrial flutter who are older than 65.
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ICD therapy is an effective management strategy in selected pediatric and congenital heart disease patients.
