Discovered last week in South Africa, the new variant has enough mutations that it has raised concerns worldwide — even though it is still unknown for sure whether the mutations cause greater transmissibility or vaccine evasion. The United States is among the countries restricting travel from southern Africa for the time being, and the CDC is advising all adults to get a booster shot.
Get the full story on our sister site Medical Design & Outsourcing.
[Image from Pixabay]
Abbott, BD, Hologic, PerkinElmer and Thermo Fisher are reassuring the public that their COVID-19 tests detect the Omnicron variant.Discovered last week in South Africa, the new variant has enough mutations that it has raised concerns worldwide — even though it is still unknown for sure whether the mutations cause greater transmissibility or vaccine evasion. The United States is among the countries restricting travel from southern Africa for the time being, and the CDC is advising all adults to get a booster shot.
Pfizer and Moderna say they’ll create new versions of their vaccines if needed.
Abbott said in a statement on November 27: “We have already conducted an assessment of the Omicron variant, and we’re confident our rapid and PCR tests can detect the virus. While the Omicron variant contains mutations to the spike protein, Abbott’s rapid and molec…
BD (NYSE:BDX) announced today that it appointed Dr. Joseph M. Smith as its new senior vice president and chief scientific officer.
Franklin Lakes, New Jersey-based BD said in a news release that Smith’s position with the company has been made effective today.
Smith will be responsible for external innovation and BD’s technology roadmap for smart connected care, the transition to new care settings and chronic disease. He will work with external technology partnerships and oversee the development of new innovation models, BD said.
Additionally, Smith will establish and co-chair the BD Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), which will include top external medical key opinion leaders, science and technology experts and experienced innovation leaders. He will report to BD EVP & CTO Elizabeth McCombs.
Smith previously served as President & CEO of Digital Health Corp. He has also served as president for a digital transformat…
BD (NYSE:BDX) announced today that it appointed Francesca DeMartino as its senior vice president of investor relations.
In the role, DeMartino will lead all aspects of communicating the progress of the company’s BD2025 strategy to investors and the financial community regarding the company’s initiatives for driving shareholder value.
DeMartino assumes the role, effective Nov. 29, according to a news release. She has more than 20 years in investor relations, communications and corporate finance, having most recently served as VP of investor relations at Medtronic. She also served as VP for Corporate Communications & VP of Global Communications for Medtronic’s Diabetes Group.
Other roles before Medtronic included stints at Johnson & Johnson, OMRIX Biopharmaceuticals, Macrocure, GCI Group and The Ruth Group, having started her career as a financial analyst in the Health Care Investment Banking Group at Deutcsche Bank.
Frankl…
[Image from Breakthrough]
A life sciences real estate developer announced today that BD (NYSE:BDX) selected its property as a new facility for its biosciences business.Through a joint venture with Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital, Breakthrough Properties confirmed that BD chose its Torrey View by Breakthrough property for an expanded San Diego reagent innovation center within its biosciences segment.
Get the full story at our sister site, MassDevice.
Through a joint venture with Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital, Breakthrough Properties confirmed that BD chose its Torrey View by Breakthrough property for an expanded San Diego reagent innovation center within its biosciences segment.
“We are thrilled to welcome BD Biosciences to Torrey View and the broader Breakthrough family,” Breakthrough Properties EVP for Operations Susie Harborth said in a news release. “BD is exactly the type of dynamic and fast-growing firm we had in mind when we set out to create this life science campus. We are honored and proud to support a company that plays such a critical role in advancing the world of health.”
Torrey View, a 10-acre life sciences R&D campus features three R&D buildings and a tenant clubhouse, with BD set to …
BD (NYSE:BDX) announced today that it broke ground on its $200 million pre-filled drug delivery device manufacturing plant in Spain.
Franklin Lakes, New Jersey-based BD announced in May that it would build the $201.5 million (€165 million) high-tech manufacturing facility in Zaragoza, Spain, with expectations of creating up to 600 jobs at the facility by 2030.
Get the full story at our sister site, Drug Delivery Business News.
Drifting wildfire smoke made for blazing sunrises and sunsets this summer in Minnesota, where electronics manufacturer Nortech Systems has been replacing air handling equipment to ensure particle filtration and the ability to operate in more extreme temperatures.
“I had days where I jumped in the car, and I drove up to Bemidji and [the smoke] got steadily worse,” CEO Jay Miller said. “I’m thinking about not only small particles of particulate matter in very sensitive boards that we’re manufacturing, I’m also thinking about my employees that have asthma. … I can put them in a good environment for eight hours a day, but how are they going to be the rest of the time? That’s worrisome.”
Medical device companies are increasingly focusing on the risk climate change poses to their businesse…
BD (NYSE:BDX) shares rose today on fourth-quarter results that came in ahead of the consensus forecast.
The Franklin Lakes, New Jersey-based medtech posted profits of $242 million, or 84¢ per share, on sales of $5.1 billion for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2021, more than doubling its bottom line on sales growth of 7.3%.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were $2.59, 13¢ ahead of Wall Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $4.9 billion.
Each of BD’s three business segments registered sales growth, with interventional revenues ticking up 9.5%, medical sales going up 9.2% and life sciences sales rising 2.9%.
The company said in a news release that its interventional segment’s growth reflects recovery in deferred procedures volume from the previous year, despite pressures from the Delta variant of COVID-19. Medical revenues reflected demand in the U.S. for catheters and vascular care products.
Life…
BD (NYSE:BDX) announced today that it appointed Dr. Carrie L. Byington to its board of directors as the company’s 13th director.
Byington joins Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based BD as the EVP and Head of University of California Health (UCH), leading the nation’s largest academic health system.
Prior to UCH, Byington served as Dean of the College of Medicine & SVP of Health Sciences for Texas A&M University, as well as Vice Chancellor for Health Services across the Texas A&M 11-campus system. Before Texas A&M, Byington spent more than 20 years in teaching and leadership positions at the University of Utah.
BD said in a news release that Byington, an infectious disease expert, is the first Hispanic woman to have served in these health leadership roles in the U.S.
Additionally, Byington has done extensive infectious disease research with a focus on respiratory pathogens, molecular diagnostics and pandemic preparedness. She was t…
The gender divide in medtech extends beyond leadership and into funding for investigational studies by U.S. physicians.
Only 6.7% of physicians who received research payments from the world’s largest medical device companies in 2020 were women, according to an analysis of Medical Design & Outsourcing’s Big 100 list of medtech companies and CMS Open Payments data.
Among the 20 medical device companies that fund research by U.S. physicians are 3M, Abbott, BD, Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson (dba J&J Surgical Vision and J&J Vision Care), Medtronic (dba Medtronic, Medtronic Minimed, Medtronic USA, Medtronic Vascular), Royal Philips (dba Philips Electronics), Stryker and Zimmer Biomet.
Together, those companies paid $3.9 million to 312 doctors in 2020, but only 21 were women, receiving a collective $402,600.
Women physicians, on average, received 15.7% of payments from each of the top medtech companies, but accounted f…
With the acquisition of Velano Vascular and its needle-free technology for high-quality blood draws, the company aims to transform patient experience, according to BD’s worldwide president of medication delivery solutions Rick Byrd.
“Needle sticks can be one of the most traumatic aspects of a hospital stay,” Byrd told MassDevice in an interview. “For the patient, obviously, but they’re also anxiety-ridden for the phlebotomist and the nurse who has to perform the needlesticks. … The acquisition of Velano Vascular adds an innovative, needle-free blood draw technology to our portfolio that will reduce the pain and discomfort of multiple needle sticks.
“We believe it will create a whole new standard of care for blood collection.”
The acquisition — for which terms were not dis…