Apple Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

Masimo trade secret suit against Apple ends in mistrial

Masimo’s W1 smartwatch [Image from Masimo]The ongoing patent spat between Masimo (Nasdaq:MASI) + and Apple has another twist as a federal judge declared a mistrial.

A federal judge in California made the ruling yesterday after jurors could not come to a unanimous verdict, according to a Reuters report.

A Masimo spokesperson issued the following statement following the ruling:

“While we are disappointed that the jury was unable to reach a verdict, we intend to retry the case and continue to pursue legal redress against Apple. As we begin that process, the United States Trade Commission is scheduled in the coming months to decide whether to ban the importation of certain models of the Apple Watch, following a ruling last year by an Administrative Law Judge that Apple infringed one of Masimo’s patents for pulse oximetry.”

Reuters reported that an Apple statement says the company …

The biggest medical device VC deals of 2022

Enable Injections, which makes the enFuse device, raised $215 million in January 2022. [Photo courtesy of Enable Injections]

Last year was definitely a slower year for medical device VC deals than the year before.

Biofourmis was the only medical device developer in the 10 largest healthcare VC deals of 2022, according to a ranking provided to Medical Design & Outsourcing by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).

Because we love devices at Medical Design & Outsourcing, we asked SVB for a ranking of 2022’s largest medical device VC deals after Biofourmis, which raised $325 million in its 2022 series D round. (The year before that, CMR Surgical’s $600 million Series D financing round was the largest medical device VC deal of 2021.)

SVB obliged, once again drawing upon its own proprietary information and data from Pitchbook. The dealmakers include device developers with innovative methods for …

Report: Apple moves forward with glucose monitoring tech

[Photo by Simon Daoudi on Unsplash]Apple reportedly believes it could shake up the CGM market with non-invasive glucose monitoring through the Apple Watch.

Blooomberg reported that the company has a “moonshot-style” project in the works, according to “sources familiar with the matter.” The report said the tech giant still has years ahead in this development of the technology, which wouldn’t penetrate the skin.

The initial technology, per the report, comes in the form of a prototype device (around the size of an iPhone) strapped to the bicep. Bloomberg says Apple’s overall goal remains to bring this technology to the Apple Watch.

However, such an offering could change the landscape of a market dominated by technology that users insert into their skin. Fingersticks — needles for pricking blood samples to measure glucose levels — were, for a long time, the standard.

Get the full story at o…

President Biden upholds ITC ruling favoring AliveCor in Apple patent spat

A figure from AliveCor’s patent, included in the PTAB ruling

AliveCor announced today that the final determination ruled on its patent dispute with Apple cleared presidential review.

In December, the International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that the Apple Watch infringed AliveCor’s patented technology.

Along with its final determination, the ITC issued a limited exclusion disorder (LEO) and a cease and desist order. It set a bond in the amount of $2 per unit of infringing Apple Watches imported or sold during its review period. The LEO goes into effect upon the favorable resolution of appeals in the case. That includes AliveCor’s appeal of a U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision.

Mountain View, California-based AliveCor said in a news release that it marks the ITC’s first LEO against Apple to clear presidential review. The company believes it “sends a strong signal” to companies that AliveCor’s IP is prot…

Apple hires Medtronic Chief Human Resources Officer Carol Surface

Medtronic EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer Carol Surface [Photo courtesy of Medtronic]Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer Carol Surface will become the first chief people officer at Apple (Nasdaq:APPL) in March.

That’s according to Bloomberg, which reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook disclosed the new hire in a memo to employees.

Surface joined Medtronic — the world’s largest medical device company — in 2013 after C-level HR roles at Best Buy and Pepsi.

Related: The biggest medtech personnel moves in 2022

Surface “brings an incredible depth of experience, which will be invaluable in supporting our teams around the world and building on everything that makes Apple so special,” Apple said in a statement.

It’s not clear whether Medtronic has identified a successor for Surface. MassDevice has reached out to the company for more information and will update this story when more details are avail…

Masimo wins round in patent spat with Apple

Masimo (Nasdaq:MASI) announced that a U.S. Administrative Law Judge in Washington, D.C. ruled in its favor in a patent spat with Apple.

The U.S. International Trade Commission must now consider whether to implement an import ban on Apple Watches, Masimo said in a news release posted last night.

MASI shares were up more than 3% to $156.75 apiece by midday trading today. MassDevice‘s MedTech 100 Index, which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies, was up more than 8%.

The judge ruled that Apple violated Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 by importing and selling certain Apple Watches in the U.S. These watches featured light-based pulse oximetry functionality and components. However, the judge also ruled that Apple did not violate four other patents belonging to Masimo.

According to a news release, the judge said this infringed one of Masimo’s pulse oximeter patents. Apple first released the pulse oximete…

At-home predictive care and the shifting patient experience

The eMed platform connects patients with telehealth providers for home testing. [Photo courtesy of eMed]

These medtech developers are advancing remote patient monitoring, virtual care, and AI predictive care.

Robin Farmanfarmaian

The combination of remote patient monitoring (RPM), virtual care and AI predictive care is changing the patient experience. Instead of the occasional clinic visit, people can interact with their healthcare daily and on-demand.

Here are a few of the medtech startups advancing remote, continuous and predictive care. Together, these companies enable truly personalized care, tailored to someone in their daily life and environment.

Remote patient monitoring (RPM)

There are many technology devices that have cleared the FDA and qualify as remote physiologic monitoring under the Medicare CPT codes. Medicare also has remote therapeutic monitoring CPT codes for musculoskeletal …

ITC rules in favor of AliveCor in patent spat with Apple

A figure from AliveCor’s patent, included in the PTAB ruling

AliveCor announced today that the International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that the Apple Watch infringed its patented technology.

Along with the final determination, the ITC issued a limited exclusion disorder (LEO) and a cease and desist order. It set a bond in the amount of $2 per unit of infringing Apple Watches imported or sold during its review period.

In a news release, AliveCor said it could potentially impact sales of “millions of infringing Apple Watches.”

“Today’s ITC ruling is a win for innovation and consumer choice,” said Priya Abani, CEO of AliveCor. “The ruling underscores the importance of upholding intellectual property rights for companies like AliveCor and scores of others whose innovations are at risk of being suppressed by a Goliath like Apple. We look forward to continuing to build and innovate on our cardiac solutions to improve people’s l…

Apple scores a win in IP spat with AliveCor

A figure from AliveCor’s patent from in the PTAB ruling

The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board has dealt AliveCor a setback in its intellectual property fight with Apple over the technology behind wearable AFib detection.

In a ruling entered yesterday, the PTAB agreed with Apple that AliveCor’s claims around U.S. Patent No. 10,595,731 B2 were unpatentable. The board made the determination based on the IP law concept of obviousness. Basically, someone with ordinary skills in the field would have found the patent obvious. They could have created what AliveCor was patenting based on the research and technological advancements that had already taken place.

The PTAB said: “Considering all the art and argument of record, and the level of ordinary skill in the art, we agree with [Apple] that ‘after an ECG is measured, it would have been obvious to confirm arrhythmia detection using a machine learning algorithm based on the PPG data, motion sens…

FDA clears AFib notification on Apple Watch

An FDA letter confirms that Apple (NSDQ:AAPL) received 510(k) clearance for an irregular heart rhythm notification on the Apple Watch.

The letter, dated Oct. 22, stated that, after reviewing Apple’s 510(k) premarket notification of intent to market the device, the FDA determined that the device is substantially equivalent to legally marketed predicate devices for the indications Apple sought.

Get the full story at our sister site, MassDevice.

FDA clears AFib notification on Apple Watch

An FDA letter confirms that Apple (NSDQ:AAPL) received 510(k) clearance for an irregular heart rhythm notification on the Apple Watch.

The letter, dated Oct. 22, stated that, after reviewing Apple’s 510(k) premarket notification of intent to market the device, the FDA determined that the device is substantially equivalent to legally marketed predicate devices for the indications Apple sought.

Apple designed its “Irregular Rhythm Notification Feature 2.0” (IRNF 2.0) to be comprised of two mobile medical apps — one on Apple Watch and one on the iPhone — that are intended to analyze pulse rate data collected by the watch’s PPG sensor to identify episodes of irregular heart rhythms consistent with AFib and provide a notification to the user.

The background screening tool uses the PPG sensor on the Apple Watch Series 3, Series 4, Series 5 and SE. There is no way for a user to initiate analysis of pulse rate data.

If the irregula…

ITC takes up AliveCore patent complaint against Apple

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has agreed to investigate if Apple has imported devices that infringe three patents held by AliveCor.

AliveCor filed the ITC complaint in April, alleging that Apple violated U.S. tariff law by importing certain Apple watches that infringe patents for its ECG technology. Mountain View, Calif.-based AliveCor wants the trade commission to issue a limited exclusion order and a cease-and-desist order against Apple, according to an ITC news release.

Get the full story on our sister site, Medical Design & Outsourcing.