DeviceTalks Archives - Page 2 of 5 - Medical Design Sourcing

LVADs save lives: So why aren’t more available?

Former LVAD patient Kyree Miller holds an Abbott HeartMate 3 at our DeviceTalks Boston show in May. [Photo by Jeff Pinette for Medical Design & Outsourcing/DeviceTalks]

Kyree Miller, a 30-year-old college student, navigated seven long years of heart failure with the assistance of an Abbott HeartMate left ventricular assist device (LVAD).

“Before I got my LVAD, there was no way I was getting on a plane. Before I got my LVAD, there was no way I was going back to work. And I was able to do both of those things — and more. To be at Killington [ski resort] with an LVAD, I never thought it would have happened, but it did,” Miller told a group of medtech insiders during our annual DeviceTalks Boston show in May.

In August 2022, Miller received a new heart.

“Having the LVAD was crucial in bridging the gap before the heart transplant,” he said. “Without it, I don’t think I would have been here to rece…

How medtech IP can help a startup navigate a ‘brutal’ environment

Now is the time for startups to build medtech IP for a future funding or exit, experts said at DeviceTalks Boston.

[Illustration via Adobe Stock]

There’s no sugar-coating the state of venture capital investment for young medical device companies that are looking for funding while building their medtech IP.

“It’s brutal out there,” said venture capitalist Jeremy Sohn, managing general partner at P74 Ventures. “… Is it completely bleak? Absolutely not. There’s a lot of money out there, billions and billions if not trillions of dollars sitting on the sidelines. There absolutely is money to be taken. You’ve just got to be creative” to close a financing.

Sohn was speaking in early May at a DeviceTalks Boston panel with Greenberg Traurig patent attorneys David Dykeman and Roman Fayerberg, as well as Luis Barros, an MIT lecturer and managing partner of Leadi…

5 keys to Mike Mahoney and Boston Scientific’s success
Boston Scientific’s market capitalization has grown nearly 10 times larger since Mike Mahoney joined as CEO in 2011. He shared key insights about cor

DeviceTalks Editorial Director Tom Salemi (left) interviewed Boston Scientific CEO Mike Mahoney (right) in front of a crowd of medtech insiders at our DeviceTalks Boston show in early May. [Photo by Jeff Pinette for DeviceTalks/MDO]Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) + is one of the bright spots as the medical device industry goes through a rough patch.

It’s more expensive to run a business, and health provider customers face operational challenges. But while other medtech companies are laying off workers, Boston Scientific is hiring. The interventional medical device giant’s workforce grew 10% over the past year to 45,000 employees.

Boston Scientific sales grew 6.7% to $12.7 billion in 2022, and CEO Mike Mahoney and other top company officials expect it to grow another 8.5–10.5% this year.

“Thankfully, we have a very strong innovation cadence right now. In Europe, we grew 20% [operationally] in the first quarter. So why…

5 keys to Mike Mahoney and Boston Scientific’s success

DeviceTalks Editorial Director Tom Salemi (left) interviewed Boston Scientific CEO Mike Mahoney (right) in front of a crowd of medtech insiders at our DeviceTalks Boston show in early May. [Photo by Jeff Pinette for DeviceTalks/MDO]

Boston Scientific is one of the bright spots as the medical device industry goes through a rough patch.

It’s more expensive to run a business, and health provider customers face operational challenges. But while other medtech companies are laying off workers, Boston Scientific is hiring. The interventional medical device giant’s workforce grew 10% over the past year to 45,000 employees.

Boston Scientific sales grew 6.7% to $12.7 billion in 2022, and CEO Mike Mahoney and other top company officials expect it to grow another 8.5–10.5% this year.

“Thankfully, we have a very strong innovation cadence right now. In Europe, we grew 20% [operationally] in the first quarter. S…

They said it at DeviceTalks Boston 2023

Medical device industry leaders from Boston Scientific, Abbott, ZimVie, Medtronic, Stryker and more met at DeviceTalks Boston to share lessons learned and their perspectives on industry trends, device design and medtech innovation.

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

Bidding farewell to DeviceTalks Boston 2023, we look back at an exceptional two-day medical device conference teeming with insights from over 100 top industry leaders.

These experts unfolded many complexities of the medtech industry in more than 35 sessions, walking attendees from the medical device product development continuum through the latest medical innovations and strategies to tackle regulatory challenges, prototyping, manufacturing, product launches and more.

Between the high-profile keynote int…

Contract manufacturer selection tips, tricks and red flags

A few years ago, Vivasure Medical faced an emergency that “nearly shut our company down,” co-founder Gerard Brett said.

“We picked a supplier in good faith — it looked like they had what it took to do the job for us,” he said. “We were working away at developing a part of our product, and we got a phone call with 24 hours’ notice to say the sheriff is going to put a lock on the door of that company.”

The supplier was about 4,500 miles from Vivasure’s Galway, Ireland headquarters where Brett serves as chief operating officer.

“We literally put people on a plane, hired what looked like the CIA, we had black Suburbans, and we backed up to the back of that facility at 2 a.m. and took our stuff out: equipment and materials,” Brett said. “At 6 a.m., it was locked.”

Vivasure Medical co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Gerard B…

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…

Surgical robotics trends and how to accelerate adoption

Moon Surgical Chief Strategy Officer Jeffery Alvarez. [Photo courtesy of Moon Surgical]

Some of the biggest names in the development of surgical robotics systems and virtual reality training technology discussed robotic surgery trends at DeviceTalks Boston.

Moon Surgical Chief Strategy Officer Jeffery Alvarez, Stryker Digital, Robotics, and Enabling Technologies President Robert Cohen, Osso VR CEO Justin Barad and FundamentalVR CEO and co-founder Richard Vincent see rapid changes ahead for surgical robotics and opportunities to win over surgeons, health systems and patients.

We’ve curated excerpts from the conversation, lightly edited for clarity and space.

Trends in surgical robotics

Alvarez: “There’s a transition from building robots that are hyper-specialized in one thing and do one thing really well, to platforms that are looking at how to solve bigger parts of the problem: H…

BD CEO Tom Polen discusses crises-revealing character during COVID-19 pandemic

BD CEO, President and Chair Tom Polen [Photo courtesy of BD]Tom Polen’s original “master plan” included going to medical school. While preparing for the MCAT out of undergrad, he instead joined a small startup based in California.

Ultimately, the startup grew and BD (NYSE:BDX) bought it. That was about 23 years ago. Polen is now chair, president and CEO of the medtech giant, having assumed the role in early 2020.

He noted that BD acquired nine companies in the last three years — much like his startup many years before.

“It’s a pleasure to be able to stand in front of those teams when we bring them in as part of our family and say, ‘I came to BD the same way that all of you came to BD,'” Polen says. “I remember exactly the way that that first day felt.”

Speaking in a keynote address at DeviceTalks Boston today, Polen outlined his career path and how he’s led BD for the past three years.

<…

May 2023 edition: Endolumik’s big step for safety, ortho hot topics, SaMD development lessons

Endolumik’s illuminated device takes a big step for safety

The top orthopedic device news out of AAOS 2023

SaMD development lessons from Cordio’s voice AI heart failure app

Orthopedic device tech advances

High in the Wind River mountains of present-day Wyoming, the inhabitants of a remote alpine village — perhaps the oldest in North America — may have used fresh rawhide soaked in water as a splint to immobilize fractured bones thousands of years ago.

Before them, the ancient Egyptians used tree bark and linens, and native tribes of South Australia used thick clay.

They would all no doubt be amazed by the modern practice of orthopedics on display at this year’s American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) annual meeting — after they recovered from the shock of the scintillating sights of Las Vegas.

In this edition of Medical Design & Outsourcing, Executive E…

May 2023 edition: Endolumik’s big step for safety, ortho hot topics, SaMD development lessons

Endolumik’s illuminated device takes a big step for safety

The top orthopedic device news out of AAOS 2023

SaMD development lessons from Cordio’s voice AI heart failure app

Orthopedic device tech advances

High in the Wind River mountains of present-day Wyoming, the inhabitants of a remote alpine village — perhaps the oldest in North America — may have used fresh rawhide soaked in water as a splint to immobilize fractured bones thousands of years ago.

Before them, the ancient Egyptians used tree bark and linens, and native tribes of South Australia used thick clay.

They would all no doubt be amazed by the modern practice of orthopedics on display at this year’s American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) annual meeting — after they recovered from the shock of the scintillating sights of Las Vegas.

In this edition of Medical Design & Outsourcing, Executive E…

DeviceTalks Boston early-bird rate expires today

Today is the final opportunity to secure the early-bird rate to register for DeviceTalks Boston.

The rate will jump from $395 to $695 where it will stay until the day of the May 10-11 conference, which will be held at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

DeviceTalks Boston promises to deliver two days of networking, content and know-how for medical device entrepreneurs, engineers, and executives.

The agenda will feature executives and professionals from a more than dozen major medical device companies including Abbott, BD, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Olympus America Corp., Philips, Smith & Nephew, Stryker, Vicarious Surgical, ZimVie Spine, Zimmer Biomet and more.

Medtech Innovator, the industry’s largest accelerator, will also host a two-day long track featuring its most successful alumni.

Go here to see the agenda and view the list of speakers including Boston Scientific CEO Michael Mahoney and BD CEO Tom Polen.

<…