DeviceTalks West Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

DeviceTalks and our team are finalists in the Software & Information Industry Association’s Neal Awards

DeviceTalks Editorial Director Tom Salemi (left) interviews BD Chair, CEO and President Tom Polen at DeviceTalks Boston 2023. [Photo by Jeff Pinette for Medical Design & Outsourcing]

DeviceTalks and the WTWH Media Life Sciences team — which includes editorial staff from DeviceTalks, Medical Design & Outsourcing and MassDevice — are finalists in the Software & Information Industry Association’s (SIIA) 70th Annual Jesse H. Neal Awards competition.

SIIA calls the Neal Awards “the most prestigious editorial honors in the field of business-to-business journalism.”

DeviceTalks is a finalist in the category of best range of work by a media brand for our DeviceTalks podcasts, live events in Boston and California, and print and online coverage through MassDevice and Medical Design & Outsourcing.

DeviceTalks Boston 2023: Registration is now open for our life event on May 1-…

Small patients, big design challenges: Pediatric device experts guide engineers on solutions

Abbott’s Amplatzer Piccolo — designed for catheter delivery inside an infant’s heart — is among the smallest pediatric devices ever made. [Image courtesy Abbott]

“What sets pediatric devices apart? It’s about giving children a chance at a full life,” said Dr. Lars Søndergaard, divisional VP of medical affairs and chief medical officer for Abbott’s Structural Heart division. “The solutions we design can’t just tackle the issue at hand — they need to enable normal development and stand the test of time across decades of life.”

Unlike the predictable anatomies of adults, young patients — some barely larger than the palm of a hand — are constantly changing, and those changes need to be accounted for in the long-term efficacy of the device. And though the challenges are substantial, the reward is immense. Successfully addressing an unmet need in pediatric care not only offer…

Here’s our medtech events calendar for 2024

The show floor was bustling in May 2023 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center during DeviceTalks Boston and its companion Robotics Summit & Expo. The events drew nearly 4,000 people. [Image courtesy of Jeff Pinette for WTWH Media]

Medtech events have a new energy to them after the COVID-19 pandemic as industry insiders once again seek opportunities for in-person networking and learning.

Here are medtech events that we’ll be following and attending in 2024, including our own DeviceTalks conferences and expos.

JPM Annual Healthcare Conference (JPM 2024) Jan. 8–11, 2024 The Westin St. Francis San Francisco 2024.jpmhealthcareconference.org

CES 2024 Jan. 9–12, 2024 Las Vegas www.ces.tech

MD&M West Feb. 6–8, 2024 Anaheim Convention Center Anaheim, California www.imengineeringwest.com

AAOS 2024 Annual Meeting Feb. 12–16, 2024 Moscone Center San Francisco www.aaos.org/…

How Imperative Care seeks to change the game in stroke treatment

With a new organizational structure meant to accelerate growth, Imperative Care is seeking to improve care even more for people with strokes and other ischemic diseases.

There is an urgent need for better stroke care. Strokes hit a new person every 40 seconds in the U.S. — and kill someone about every 3 minutes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Imperative Care CEO Fred Khosravi sees the company achieving its goals through new device designs and bolder business models. He’s the keynote interview closing out the first day of our DeviceTalks West show, Oct. 18–19 in Santa Clara, California. (Register here.)

“Our vision for Imperative Care has always been to bring forward clinically meaningful innovations that are inspired and shaped by physicians and unmet clinical needs impacting patient care,” Khosravi said in August. “We believe that the patient is the only constant in the chain of care from detection through treatment a…

What’s next for Abbott’s cardiovascular business?

Abbott (NYSE: ABT) + boosted its vascular device offerings even more with its acquisition of Cardiovascular Systems this year.

Wondering what comes next? Abbott Vascular President Julie Tyler will explain at our DeviceTalks West event, Oct. 18–19 in Santa Clara. (Register here.)

Even as COVID-19 test sales continue to decline and hammer overall revenue, Abbott officials are betting on a productive, innovative pipeline to build momentum — especially in its medical device business. In a keynote interview on the morning of Oct. 18, Tyler will discuss the company’s product platform, innovation process, and what’s to come after the acquisition of Cardiovascular Systems.

How can the merger with Cardiovascular Systems enable Abbott to better help people with vascular diseases?

Find out more at DeviceTalks West.

How Intuitive plans to continue its surgical robotics leadership

Companies large and small have sought to take on Intuitive in soft-tissue surgical robotics, but it has maintained its dominance.

Intuitive President Dave Rosa will explain how Intuitive plans to continue maintaining distance from its competitors — and much more, during DeviceTalks West next week. Register here for the event, which is Oct. 18–19 in Santa Clara, California.

Rosa has been at Intuitive for nearly 30 years; the company promoted him to the president role in May. Working with CEO Gary Guthart, Rosa’s responsibilities include overseeing core business, driving product, digital and commercial excellence, and delivering on strategies and goals.

Rosa has said that he’s especially excited about two technological opportunities that are going to advance surgical robotics and minimally invasive surgery in a major way: improved visualization for surgeons and focal therapy.

“How can we help surgeons see more about what they’re doing? …

Four steps medtech startups can’t put off

Greenberg Traurig shareholder Ginger Pigott [Photo courtesy of Greenberg Traurig]

Developing and commercializing a new medical device is a success worth toasting for medtech startups — but that success also makes it more likely that litigation is in their future.

There are steps medtech startups can take to protect themselves down the road, said Greenberg Traurig shareholder Ginger Pigott, a litigator who defends major medical device manufacturers in court. She also advises medtech startups on early decisions and strategies that could have major ramifications down the road.

Pigott and two other women — Greenberg Traurig lawyer Miki Kolton and Fogarty Innovation Chief Innovation Officer Denise Zarins — will offer their expertise at our DeviceTalks West show in an Oct. 18 panel, “Going the Distance: Building Startups to Last.”

Pigott offered a preview of the panel for Medical Design &…

September 2023 edition: The Medtech Big 100

5 keys to Mike Mahoney and Boston Scientific’s success

How does medtech CEO compensation stack up to the rank and file?

Digital health startups to watch as Big 100 firms race to build or buy tech

DeviceTalks West show preview: Find solutions to your most demanding medtech problems

A mixed year for the Medtech Big 100 — and an opportunity to show we care

The results are in from our annual Medtech Big 100 ranking of the largest medical device companies, and while total sales and R&D spending are up, it doesn’t feel right to celebrate.

That’s because our analysis shows a 5% decline in employment across the industry. This is no surprise to anyone who is active on LinkedIn, given this year’s headlines about layoffs and posts from friends and co-workers seeking new opportunities.

It’s not the first time that’s happened. Last year’s analysis captured job cuts due to the COVID-19 pandemic that delayed procedures, snapped supply c…

Find solutions to your most demanding medtech problem at DeviceTalks West

Add some essentials to your toolbox with engineering expertise from our upcoming show in California.

Intuitive President Dave Rosa will give a keynote interview at DeviceTalks West 2023. [Photo courtesy of Intuitive]

In the medical device industry, stubborn problems can cost millions in development expenses and delay the introduction of new life-saving tools and technologies.

That’s why we build our DeviceTalks meetings as a forum where successful medical device engineers, manufacturers and market-builders can share their best practices, providing solutions that help clear hurdles, speed product development and potentially save lives.

DeviceTalks attendees leave our meeting with notebooks full of critical advice and pockets full of business cards. We’ll help fill both at DeviceTalks West, which takes place Oct. 18-19 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in California. You can view the full agenda on our…

Imperative Care reports positive data for stroke treatment following expanded FDA nod

[Image from Imperative Care]Imperative Care today announced positive data from a neurovascular outcome database evaluating its Zoom stroke solution.

The announcement for the study results comes just a week after the FDA cleared an expansion to the Zoom portfolio. Imperative Care will discuss its Zoom platform and its efforts to build next-generation devices at DeviceTalks West in October. Check out the agenda and register HERE.

Campbell, California-based Imperative Care develops connected technology to treat stroke and other ischemic diseases. The Zoom stroke solution product platform aims to usher in a new era of stroke thrombectomy. It enables fast and consistent treatment, plus improved procedure outcomes. Through reperfusion, physicians can perform fast, effective clot removal in patients with ischemic stroke.

The company presented data from its Neurovascular Quality Initiative-Quality Outcome Database (NVQI-QOD) at the Society of NeuroInterventional Su…

Drive the conversation: Your chance to present at DeviceTalks West 2023

DeviceTalks Editorial Director Tom Salemi interviews Outset Medical CEO Leslie Trigg at DeviceTalks West 2022. [Photo by Kara Singleton for Medical Design & Outsourcing]

As the world navigates an unprecedented era of technological advancement and health crises, the medical device industry is at the forefront of these transformative times. It is against this backdrop that the annual DeviceTalks West conference convenes this Oct. 18-19, 2023, beckoning a diverse cohort of industry leaders, innovators, engineers, and hundreds of other medtech stakeholders.

The DeviceTalks team is actively seeking a dynamic range of voices to contribute to the speaker line-up for DeviceTalks West 2023. Our call for presentations is now open and represents a rare opportunity for medical device professionals to share their expertise and insights. This isn’t merely a conference; it’s a community endeavor to drive the i…

Device developers get creative to connect with physicians

Dr. Farzad Azimpour is SVP of Advanced Technology at Edwards Lifesciences [Photo courtesy of Edwards Lifesciences]

Medical device developers have gotten creative in connecting with surgeons and interventionalists during the pandemic.

Leaders from Abbott, Boston Scientific and Edwards Lifesciences shared some of their experiences, challenges and opportunities with attendees of DeviceTalks West in October.

The chief challenge is the number of physicians, nurses and other medical professionals who have left the field during the pandemic.

“The elephant in the room is that everybody is worried about how we’re going to get things to patients,” said Farzad Azimpour, SVP of Advanced Technology at Edwards Lifesciences. “How do we equip the limited capacity that we have right now — from nursing, physicians, everyone — to enable what we have to actually reach patients in a timely and appropriate manner…