Boston Scientific news from FierceHealthcare
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Boston Scientific, Medtronic slammed with renewed $600M award
Eight years ago, Johnson & Johnson division Cordis Corp. was awarded almost $600 million in damages in a cardiac-stent infringement case against Boston Scientific Corp. and Medtronic. The cases... Read more...
U.S. Senator questions partnership between cardiologists, medical devicemaker-backed group
Expect to see a lot more stories like this in one in coming months, folks, as it's become extremely popular to challenge medical devicemaker and pharmaceutical financing of, well, anything that... Read more...
Drug companies plan to disclose grant funding
Hoping to stave off outside regulation by Congress, a group of the nation's largest drug and device manufacturers have put forth plans to publicly disclose the grants they make to outside... Read more...
A potentially costly discovery?
As I understand it, basic economic theory suggests that buyers can't make rational decisions unless they can get and compare prices for equivalent products and services. If it's costly or difficult... Read more...
Researcher settles price disclosure case with Guidant
Not-for-profit market research firm ECRI Institute has settled a legal dispute with Boston Scientific over whether it could publish pricing information on the devicemaker's products. ECRI had been... Read more...
Cardiologists stand by stents
Recently there have been reports that blood clots can form within drug-coated stents designed to keep arteries clear. But cardiologists at the Transcather Cardiovascular Therapeutics show say patients are "far more are being killed each year by the failure of doctors to promptly clear coronary arteries and install stents when patients arrive at a hospital during a heart attack." Experts say that many studies have proven the superiority of stents to clot-busting drugs, and that the risk of …
... Read more...ALSO NOTED: Medicare HMO targets chronically ill; West Nile in Missouri; and much more...
> Care Improvement, a Medicare Advantage HMO, has launched a health plan targeting chronically ill seniors in Georgia and South Carolina. Release
> The West Nile virus pops up in Missouri. Article
> It's the tale of a Petaluma, Calif.-based hospital …
... Read more...Patients face defibrillator recalls
A group of already-vulnerable patients are facing yet another trauma as a wave of implantable heart device recalls hits the market. According Newsday, the FDA has targeted more than 300,000 such devices within the past 18 months alone, the majority of which came from Boston Scientific's Guidant. In some cases, it won't be necessary for doctors to remove the device, but others must go through additional surgery and risk to get the implant out of their body. Generally speaking, …
... Read more...Boston Scientific announces recall, shares drop
Boston Scientific said it will recall one of its pacemaker models after an FDA report released last week suggested many of the units will eventually malfunction. The device maker's shares fell seven percent on the news Monday and are down midday Tuesday. CEO Jim Tobin said in a conference call that it may take 18 months to two years to correct problems with the pacemakers and defibrillator lines the company acquired in the Guidant deal this year. He also hinted the recall may not be the …
... Read more...FDA report pains Boston Scientific
An internal FDA estimate of the dangers posed by a Boston Scientific pacemaker suggests that they may be far higher than earlier estimates had suggested. In the report, agency experts argue that the odds of the Contak Renewal short circuiting may be ten times higher than than its maker previously admitted. Boston Scientific acquired the pacemaker when it bought Guidant in a $27-billion deal. The news comes a day after The Wall Street Journal published a front-page piece …
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