Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) announced today that it entered into an agreement to purchase Momenta Pharmaceuticals (NSDQ:MNTA) for $6.5 billion.
New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson will pay $6.5 billion in an all-cash transaction for the developer of novel therapies for immune-mediated diseases, according to a news release.
Get the full story at our sister site, Drug Discovery & Development.
For the third consecutive week, stocks in the medtech industry reached heights not yet seen since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — sat at 89.65 points at the end of last week (Aug. 7). Overall, medtech stocks saw a 0.72% increase from the 89.01-point total at the same time a week prior (July 31).
On Aug. 5, the index reached 90.45 points, marking its highest point since that pre-pandemic high, with the previous mid-pandemic high (90.37) coming last week.
The most recent high mark represents just a -2% dip from the Feb. 19 high point of 92.32, marking the smallest margin of decline over the past five months.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index saw a 2.5% increase from July 31 to Aug. 7, and the Dow Jones Index fared even better, positng a 3.8% rise over the same period of time.
Medtech’s lowest point during the COVID-19 pandemic remains at 62.13…
When COVID-19 set upon the U.S. in March, medtech executives had a month at most to tell Wall Street analysts how the pandemic had hit the industry’s largest companies. We heard about short-term hits in revenues, procedures and employee headcounts, but uncertainty clearly ruled the day.
Over the past few weeks, medtech executives from several leading companies reported back to analysts with a full quarter under their belt. To be sure, no one can claim to hold a full grasp on this crisis, but a survey of the calls reveals steps and adjustments that companies are taking to thrive beyond the pandemic.
In this podcast, we’ll list our Top 10.
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DeviceTalks by MassDevice · Ten ways medtech companies are finding their footing during the pandemic
The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and Defense Dept. agreed to a $1 billion deal for a vaccine candidate from Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ).
HHS and DoD announced the agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutical, as the J&J subsidiary is set to offer large-scale manufacturing and the delivery of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, with the federal government owning 100 million doses of the vaccine.
Get the full story at our sister site, Pharmaceutical Processing World.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary Ethicon announced that it received FDA breakthrough device designation for its microwave ablation technology.
The transbronchial microwave ablation technology, which is currently under development, utilizes robotic-assisted bronchoscopy. Johnson & Johnson’s acquisitions of NeuWave Medical and Auris Health allowed the company to bring the robotic surgical and microwave ablation technology together to develop the new breakthrough device, according to a news release.
Ethicon’s NeuWave microwave ablation system treats soft tissue lesions, having already performed more than 45,000 procedures to date. Meanwhile, the Monarch platform — the first robotic-assisted bronchoscopy system introduced in the U.S. — offers reach into the periphery of the lung with continuous real-time vision, precision and control.
“Through our commitment to transform patients’ lives, Johnson & Johnson is advancing innovativ…
After five months since medtech stocks peaked before the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the markets, the industry inched back toward that pre-pandemic high.
MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — sat at 88.9 points at the end of last week (July 17). That total represents just a -3.7% dip from the Feb. 19 high point of 92.32, marking the smallest margin of decline over the past five months.
Medtech stocks saw a 5.1% increase from the 84.39-point total at the same time a week prior (July 10), highlighting a large improvement after last week saw almost no material change in the index.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index saw a 1.2% bump from July 10 to July 17, and the Dow Jones Index fared even better, posting a 2.3% increase over the same period of time. Both indexes mirrored the medtech industry’s changes as far as increases, but didn’t see as drastic a change.
Medtech’s lowest point du…
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) has decided not to follow a 510(k) clearance pathway for its planned general surgery robot — with a goal to start first-in-human studies with the system by the second half of 2022.
That was one of the major pieces of information to come out of the New Brunswick, N.J.–based company’s quarterly earnings call yesterday.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the U.S., J&J had been planning some kind of robotic surgery reveal in May. The medtech giant has been working on combining technologies that came out of its previous Verb Surgical collaboration with the Alphabet (NSDQ:GOOGL) life sciences unit Verily — as well as its $3.4 billion purchase of Auris Health and its FDA-cleared Monarch platform.
Robot-assisted surgery is presently a hot area in medtech — with J&J, Medtronic and others seeking to take on Intuitive Surgical (NSDQ:ISRG), the dominant company in the space.
“We continue to be impressed …
The United Kingdom issued a warning for failure in a spinal fixation system manufactured by Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) unit DePuy Synthes.
An alert sent out by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency highlighted an issue with the cracking of the USS II Polyaxial 3D head rings that may result in the loosening of the spinal fixation system prior to completion of the bone healing.
The batch-related issue does not affect all devices, as Depuy issued a field safety notice on Nov. 13, 2019, to inform users of the potential intra-operative or post-operative cracking of head rings that can lead to the rods loosening, poor spinal mechanics, non-union or malunion, pain or dislocation.
Depuy reported that the majority of implant failures occurred and were identified during the procedure, but can happen post-operatively, so the warning applies to those with the fixation system already implanted, too.
The UK government urged those affecte…
In this week’s episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, Tom Salemi, editorial director of DeviceTalks events and content, visits with Renee Ryan, the CEO of neuromodulation startup Cala Health.
Ryan came to Cala from the venerable medtech investor Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., where she made over 15 investments helping to create companies including Auris Surgical, Cala and digital surgery play Verb Surgical, J&J’s joint venture with Verily. “I really set my mind to [asking] was there a way we could create our own opportunities,” she said of her eight years as the corporate investor.
We ask Ryan about her move into medtech investing from investment banking as well as the “secret power” that helped her succeed as an investor and an executive.
We’ll also discuss the unique commercial strategy Cala is employing as it begins rolling out its Cala Trio, a bioelectronic device developed to treat essential tremor.
What role will tech comp…
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) announced today that its Janssen Pharmaceutical subsidiary has moved up first-in-human clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate to late July, versus the previously planned start in September.
“Based on the strength of the preclinical data we have seen so far and interactions with the regulatory authorities, we have been able to further accelerate the clinical development of our investigational SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, Ad26.COV2-S, recombinant,” said Dr. Paul Stoffels, J&J’s chief scientific officer.
“Simultaneously, we are continuing our efforts to build important global partnerships and invest in our vaccine production technology and manufacturing capabilities. Our goal is to ensure we can deliver a vaccine to the world and protect people everywhere from this pandemic,” Stoffels said.
Get the full story on our sister site Drug Discovery and Development.