Health Industry Today articles from July 1999

Health Industry Today archives from July 1999

Fusion cages adding backbone to spinal fixation device sales.
July 1, 1999... In the spinal fixation segment of the orthopedic implant market-a section of the industry that is high growth, high potential, and poised for another round of explosive expansion - thinking outside the envelope means getting inside the cage....

Accidental needlestick legislation points direction for syringe market.
July 1, 1999... Anyone interested in catching a medical device groundswell near ground zero should be referred to safety needles and accidental sticks legislation. It's close to critical mass, it's going to get hotter, and it's about to affect the industry...

Hoechst Marion Roussel Institutional Digest reports on multi-hospital systems' CCUs, ICUs >BY Donald E. L. Johnson.
July 1, 1999... Multi-hospital systems continue to be major, or national, accounts for manufacturers and distributors of medical devices and supplies. Suppliers are most interested in multi-hospital systems with centralized materials management and...

MediCor hoping different distribution approaches will deal a winning hand at the InsulScan table.
July 1, 1999... When MediCor Corp. of Vernon Hills, Ill., announced at the Assn. of Operating Room Nurses (AORN)convention in San Francisco that it had developed a marketing relationship for its new InsulScan device with Mobile Instruments, Bellefontaine,...

Reps told changing times mean changing tactics.
July 1, 1999... Rules governing the manufacturer/distributor alliance are changing rapidly, and that means rethinking such issues as supply chain mechanics, exclusive relationships and industry focus. Marketing reps at the Spring Conference of the...

Endocare introducescomputer-guided cryosurgery.
July 1, 1999... Calling the unveiling of its new technology a step toward the future, Endocare, Inc., Irvine, Calif., debuted its computer-guided cryoablation technology system at the American Urological Association's national meeting held in Dallas. The...

Corporate-wide branding effortinitiated by Medline.
July 1, 1999... For the first time in its 89-year history, Medline Industries, Inc., Mundelein, Ill., has designed "retail-looking" packaging for its medical and surgical products. The packaging will be rolled out over the next 18 months and will include every...

Needle-free drug delivery system enters Phase I trials.
July 1, 1999... Bioject Medical Technologies, Portland, Ore., has entered its Biojector[umlaut] 2000 jet injector device into Phase I human trials to deliver a malaria DNA vaccine made by Vical Inc., San Diego. The study is being conducted by personnel...

Somanetics introduces pediatric oximeter to European markets.
July 1, 1999... Somanetics Corp., Troy, Mich., introduced its pediatric version of the INVOS[umlaut] cerebral oximeter to European buyers at the European Society of Anesthesiologists annual meeting held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The INVOS is the...

n Mallinckrodt debuts "next generation" pulse oximetry.
July 1, 1999... Calling its device the "next generation in pulse oximetry technology," Mallinckrodt Inc., Pleasanton, Calif., has introduced its Nellcor[umlaut] MP404 oximetry module. The device uses digital signal processing designed to track patient oxygen...

VIDAR launches film digitizer for mammography use.
July 1, 1999... VIDAR[umlaut] Systems Corp., Boston, announced the first digitizer designed and engineered specifically for digitizing mammography film at the Society of Breast Imaging meeting. Calling its MammographyPro[ordinal indicator, feminine] system...

ResMed masks get U.S., U.K. approval; company makes top 100 list.
July 1, 1999... ResMed Inc., San Diego, has been granted Design Patent protection in the United States for its Mirage[umlaut] mask for sleep disordered breathing and has also received three Design Registrations in the United Kingdom for its recently released...

Implemed catheter receives FDA clearance.
July 1, 1999... Implemed, Inc., Watertown Mass., has received 510(k) marketing clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its OLIGON[ordinal indicator, feminine] Foley catheter. Implemed president and CEO Edward W. Kelly said the...

www.commerce.
July 1, 1999... The Internet sale of "used" medical equipment and supplies has taken on an interesting twist with the addition of auction services to the mix. As reported in the June, 1999, issue of Health Industry Today, the remarketing of diagnostic...

HCIA information bases offered to manufacturers as aids to market analysis, demand projections.
July 1, 1999... Medical device manufacturers and distributors looking to know more about their clientele are recommended to InpatientView[ordinal indicator, feminine], a database offering information on all 1998 hospital inpatient populations, Medicare and...

Double-digit growth seen for stents; patient monitoring product market strong.(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... The rapid acceptance by clinicians of stents for use in peripheral vascular and non-vascular applications is expected to expand that market by 30% annually, reaching $560 million in 2003, according to a report issued by Medical Data...

Medical device, supply manufacturers see earnings rise 14% adjusted in 1Q '99.(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... First-quarter 1999 earnings for medical device and supply manufacturers rose an adjusted 14.4% on a 15.3% increase in revenue, according to HealthCare Markets Group, Hilton Head Island, S.C. By comparison, fourth-quarter 1998 adjusted...

LASIK surgery numbers increase as awareness of procedure rises.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 1999... More than 800,000 LASIK surgery procedures will be performed in the United States to correct vision problems in 1999, says industry analyst Frost & Sullivan, Mountain View, Calif. The figure, says Laura Johnson, executive director of the LASIK...

Number of IHNs qualifying as GPOs rising, but networks hanging onto old contracts.(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... The number of integrated healthcare networks (IHNs) qualifying as group purchasing organizations (GPOs) is steadily rising, but IHNs are continuing to exercise their GPO contracts, says SMG Marketing Group, Chicago. SMG's survey of IHNs...

Ban urged for reprocessing of single-use devices; hospitals seek relief from unintended BBA cuts.
July 1, 1999... MDMA calls reusing disposables an "unreasonable and substantial risk" Medical Device Manufacturers Assn. (MDMA) followed on the heels of similar appeals ("Feds urged to enforce single-use device regs," Health Industry Today, June '99) to the...

Disposable market to see safety needle infusion?
July 1, 1999... The segment of the syringe market that safety needles will probably penetrate to an ever-increased extent is robust and, thanks in part to the growing use of infusion and injection products, pointed toward expansion. Disposable needles,...

Stryker Corp.(forged contract with Premier Purchasing Partners of)(Westchester)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... Stryker Corp., Kalamazoo, Mich., has signed an orthopedic contract with Premier Purchasing Partners of Westchester, Ill. The agreement covers three years and includes Stryker's line of reconstructive total joint products including...

McKesson HBOC, Inc.(sings agreement to provide medical and surgical supplies)(to Yankee Alliance)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... The Medical Group of McKesson HBOC, Inc., Richmond, Va., has signed an agreement to become the exclusive provider of medical and surgical suppliers to Yankee Alliance's integrated health network of more than 4,000 affiliated physicians. The...

Novation.(news briefs on contracts and acquisitions of suppliers and)(manufacturers of medical and surgical equipment.)
July 1, 1999... Novation, Irving, Texas, has signed multi-year contracts with seven capital equipment suppliers and three-year pacts for interventional specialty urology products. The CE agreements, says Novation, represent nearly $5 million in annual savings...

PSS World Medical, Inc.
July 1, 1999... PSS World Medical, Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., after acquiring four medical imaging companies through its wholly owned subsidiary, Diagnostic Imaging, Inc., (Health Industry Today, June, 1999), continued its rapid expansion by acquiring three...

Enable Medical Corp.
July 1, 1999... Enable Medical Corp., Cincinnati, has received a $750,000 Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Health. The Phase II grant follows a Phase I grant the company received in 1997 for the research...

Medical Data Electronics (MDE) and Masimo Corp. have announced a licensing agreement.
July 1, 1999... Medical Data Electronics (MDE) and Masimo Corp., both of Irvine, Calif., have announced a licensing agreement under which MDE will integrate Masimo signal extraction pulse oximetry technology into its current and future patient monitors. ...

Laserscope.
July 1, 1999... Laserscope, San Jose, Calif., has announced it will submit a pre-market approval application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its photodynamic therapy (PDT) laser system simultaneous with a new drug application submitted for...

McKinley Medical LLLC.
July 1, 1999... McKinley Medical LLLC, Wheat Ridge, Colo., has signed a letter of intent to market the Freedom 60 Infusion System manufactured by Repro-Med Systems, Chester, N.Y. McKinley, an international supplier of IV systems, will market the Freedom...

Show biz.
July 1, 1999... Editor's Note: If a trade show or expo you are or were involved with increased (or decreased) the number of participants, exhibitors or floor space, let HIT know. We're also interested in your reactions to today's trade shows. Contact John...

Design winners named at MD&M East.
July 1, 1999... Winners of the 1999 Medical Design Excellence Awards were announced in New York during the Medical Design & Manufacturing East Conference and Exposition held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center and sponsored by Canon Communications LLC, Los...

AHRMM conference set for San Francisco.
July 1, 1999... The 37th annual Assoc. for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM) Conference and Exhibition will be held Aug. 22-25, 1999 at the Moscone Center North in San Francisco. AHRMM president Mary Starr says the conference theme of...

Chips to Hits '99.
July 1, 1999... After sold-out events in 1997 and 1998, the IBC's 6th annual Biochip Technologies Conference will present" Chips to Hits '99" Nov. 2-5 at the Claremont Report & Spa, Berkeley, Calif. Billed as the premier forum presenting coverage and...

Trading places.
July 1, 1999... Here's Health Industry Today's listing of key health care trade shows for the coming months. To add one, contact John Dalton at 303-967-0170, fax 303-290-9025, or e-mail to HIT@businessword.com Dates Meeting Location ...