Medicine Goes Hollywood

A new company has sprung up to help docs make money off their great ideas for new devices. Based in Hollywood, A4M, which stands for Agents for Medics, connects physicians who invent devices with companies that can help bring them to market. According to a company release, “Doctors have little time to...

North American Scientific Poaches Sanarus Chief

Chatsworth, CA-based North American Scientific announced yesterday the appointment of John Rush as president and CEO. The med tech company, which makes radioisotope products for the treatment of cancer, lured Rush from Sanarus Medical of Pleasanton, CA. Rush, 48, had been with Sanarus since 2002. Prior...

FDA Cracks Down on Conflicts of Interest

FDA announced yesterday that it would impose stricter rules upon members of its advisory committees. These committees make recommendations on whether a device or drug should be approved. It’s not required to, but FDA typically accepts the recommendations of its committees. Many of the docs who get...

Volcano Erupts

With so much talk about dwindling drug-coated stent sales, some smaller med tech firms are primed to take advantage. CNNMoney.com reports this week on two, Volcano and Acusphere, both of which have technologies to help detect blood clots in arteries. That capability may prove quite handy for the many...

Implants Make Top 10

Business 2.0 calls implantable devices one of “The Top-10 Products, Ideas and Trends” destined to shape the future. While pharma’s busy trying to cope with its dry-pipeline problem, “…companies like Boston Scientific, Medtronic, and an array of startups are readying dozens of...

Angels Descending

According to a study released yesterday by the University of New Hampshire’s Center for Venture Research, angel investing is up (10.8 percent from 2005, to $25.6 billion last year) and medical devices are proving especially attractive. Red Herring reports, “Healthcare services, and medical...

Transactions Worth Thinking About

San Francisco I-bank ThinkEquity Partners is out with its latest healthcare newsletter, and it’s rife with interesting tid bits. In public equity, ATS Medical, which makes cardiac surgery products, announced on March 16 that it has entered into definitive agreements with certain institutional investors...

Possis Gets Play in Strib

The Star Tribune ran a piece over the weekend about drug-device combos. It focused on Coon Rapids, Minnesota (a Minneapolis suburb)-based Possis Medical, a device company whose technologies focus on removing intra-vascular blood clots, and its AngioJet clot-busting device. Reporter Janet Moore speaks of...