Cardiovascular Device Update articles from September 2002

Cardiovascular Device Update archives from September 2002

Innovative devices offer hope for improved stroke therapy.
September 1, 2002... Stroke, often referred to as a "brain attack," is a heterogeneous collection of disorders that affect the vasculature of the brain. It is defined as a sudden and often severe impairment of the body, caused by a disruption in the flow of blood...

OmniSonics, Quinton outline therapeutic, financial progress.
September 1, 2002... BOSTON, Massachusetts -- Since the advent of balloon catheter angioplasty two decades ago, the pace of technological innovation in the field of interventional cardiology has been very rapid. This has resulted in tremendous improvements in...

Angiogenesis relieves clogged leg arteries. (From the Lab).
September 1, 2002... Coronary artery bypass is the favored treatment for heart disease and ischemic stroke. It's not the only bypass operation in medical practice. At the far end of the body, remote from the heart, lie the lower limbs--thigh, calf, feet and toes....

Cardiac Science AEDs Class IIb in AHA listing. (Clarification).
September 1, 2002... An article in the July issue of CDU incorrectly reported that automated external defibrillators (AEDs) made by Cardiac Science (Irvine, California) were classified as Class 3 under a classification system devised by the American Heart...

French in clinical trial of cell therapy for HF. (Report from Europe).
September 1, 2002... Biotech start-up Myosix SA (Paris) and the Paris Public Hospital Authority have signed agreements with Genzyme Biosurgery, a subsidiary of Genzyme (Cambridge, Massachusetts), to conduct a large-scale Phase II trial of a cell therapy for heart...

MedicalCV. (Acquisitions).
September 1, 2002... * MedicalCV (Minneapolis, Minnesota) reported acquiring the exclusive licensing rights to manufacture and distribute the IMA Access Retractor, a device designed to improve harvesting of the internal mammary artery, the vessel usually used in...

NMT Medical (Boston, Massachusetts) reported selling its neurosciences business. (Acquisitions).
September 1, 2002... * NMT Medical (Boston, Massachusetts) reported selling its neurosciences business to Integra Life-Sciences Holdings (Plainsboro, New Jersey) for $5.4 million in cash in a transaction structured as a sale of stock of the subsidiaries comprising...

Heart valves exempt from CryoLife recall. (Business Developments).
September 1, 2002... The FDA recall of tissue products processed by CryoLife (Kennesaw, Georgia) last month did not include the company's heart valve products, an exemption that offered a ray of hope for the company that now faces an uphill battle to regain...

CryoCath Technologies. (Agreements).
September 1, 2002... * CryoCath Technologies (Montreal, Quebec), a developer of cryotherapy products to treat cardiovascular disease, said it has entered into a bought deal of units, through a syndicate of underwriters led by Yorkton Securities and including...

HealtheTech (Golden, Colorado), which develops medical devices and software that measure and monitor health parameters. (Agreements).
September 1, 2002... * HealtheTech (Golden, Colorado), which develops medical devices and software that measure and monitor health parameters, has entered into an agreement with Mead Johnson Nutritionals (Evansville, Indiana) to distribute and promote HealtheTech's...

MaxCyte (Rockville, Maryland) entered into a research agreement with Angiogene. (Agreements).
September 1, 2002... * MaxCyte (Rockville, Maryland) entered into a research agreement with Angiogene (Montreal, Quebec) to develop a recuperative treatment for congestive heart failure caused by myocardial infarction, using MaxCyte's GT cell-loading system. "We're...

Gene variant linked to African Americans. (Market Updates).
September 1, 2002... Heart disease in African Americans often has been assumed to be associated with socio-economic conditions, but a new study suggests a prominent genetic factor as perhaps an even more significant culprit. Appearing in a recent issue of the...

Abiomed. (Personnel File).
September 1, 2002... * Christophe Mauge, PhD, was named director of the AbioCor Implantable Replacement Heart Program at Abiomed (Danvers, Massachusetts). Mauge formerly was in charge of all mechanical systems development at the company and the expanded role will...

Endocardial Solutions. (Personnel File).
September 1, 2002... * J. Robert Paulson Jr. was named chief financial officer of Endocardial Solutions (St. Paul, Minnesota). Previously, Paulson was senior, vice president and general manager in the auditory products division of Advanced Bionics. Endocardial...

Heartlab. (Personnel File).
September 1, 2002... * Heartlab (Westerly, Rhode Island) reported the promotion of four sales managers. Lisa Braunreuther has been promoted to vice president of North American sales operations, Bruce Keller to director of the central sales region, William Davis to...

Ischemia Technologies. (Personnel File).
September 1, 2002... * John Carter was named chief technology officer of Ischemia Technologies (Denver, Colorado). Most recently, Carter was vice president of diagnostic products marketing and scientific affairs for the international division of Carter Wallace....

Somanetics. (Personnel File).
September 1, 2002... * Dominic Spadafore was named vice president of sales and marketing at Somanetics (Troy, Michigan). Most recently Spadafore was national sales and clinical director for the cardiac assist division of Datascope. Somanetics manufactures two...

Theragenics. (Personnel File).
September 1, 2002... * James MacLennan was appointed chief financial officer and treasurer of Theragenics (Atlanta, Georgia), effective Aug. 15. Previously, MacLennan was executive vice president and CFO of Lanier Worldwide. With this appointment, former CFO Bruce...

3F Therapeutics. (Personnel File).
September 1, 2002... * Oleg Svanidze, PhD, MD, was appointed vice president of minimally invasive technology for 3F Therapeutics (Lake Forest, California/Brussels, Belgium). Most recently, Svanidze was director of cardiovascular development at Computer Motion. 3F...

Thoratec. (Personnel File).
September 1, 2002... * Jeffrey Nelson was named to the newly created position of president of the cardiovascular division of Thoratec (Pleasanton, California). Previously, Nelson was general manager of the nuclear medicine division of Philips Medical Systems....

The beat goes on with Octopus 4, Starfish 2. (Product Pipeline).
September 1, 2002... Amid what it said is growing evidence that coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery on the beating heart is safe, effective and easier on the patient than conventional CABG surgery with a heart-lung machine, Medtronic (Minneapolis,...

Abiomed. (Product Pipeline).
September 1, 2002... * Abiomed (Danvers, Massachusetts) said Tom Christerson, who has survived nearly a year with its AbioCor artificial heart, returned home after undergoing surgery to replace the device's lithium battery. Christerson was admitted in mid-July to...

Arrow International. (Product Pipeline).
September 1, 2002... * Arrow International (Reading, Pennsylvania) reported an additional U.S. implant of its LionHeart, a fully implantable Left Ventricular Assist System (LVAS). The implant, the eighth overall in the U.S., is the first in a new series of seven...

Boston Scientific. (Product Pipeline).
September 1, 2002... * Boston Scientific (Natick, Massachusetts) said six of the seven premarket approval (PMA) modules submitted to the FDA for its EPT-1000 XP cardiac ablation system for the treatment of atrial flutter have been reviewed, accepted and closed by...

CardioDynamics (San Diego, California), a developer of Impedance Cardiography (ICG) technology. (Product Pipeline).
September 1, 2002... * CardioDynamics (San Diego, California), a developer of Impedance Cardiography (ICG) technology, signed a co-development and OEM agreement with Philips Medical Systems (Andover, Massachusetts) to combine CardioDynamics' ICG technology with...

Guidant. (Product Pipeline).
September 1, 2002... * Guidant (Indianapolis, Indiana) said the FDA approved six-month follow-up clinical trial results for its Multi-Link Pixel Coronary Stent System. Data demonstrated safety, and efficacy, with a target lesion revascularization rate of 8% at 180...

MicroVention. (Product Pipeline).
September 1, 2002... * MicroVention (Aliso Viejo, California) received FDA 510(k) and CE mark clearance for its HydroCoil Embolic System to treat cerebral aneurysms. The HydroCoil is an endovascularly placed embolization device combining an expandable microporous...

Rubicon Medical. (Product Pipeline).
September 1, 2002... * Rubicon Medical (Salt Lake City, Utah) reported plans for a clinical study of its Rubicon Filter in Europe to gain CE mark approval. The study will test the filter in saphenous vein grafts, which are degenerated coronary bypass grafts in...

World Heart. (Product Pipeline).
September 1, 2002... * World Heart (Oakland, California) submitted to the FDA a premarket approval supplement for use of Novacor LVAS, its left ventricular assist system, by end-stage heart-failure patients who are not candidates for heart transplantation....