Drop in COVID-19 diagnostic sales hampers Siemens Healthineers in Q1

Siemens Healthineers today announced first-quarter financial results that include a projection of single-digit growth in 2023.

Despite growth ahead, Siemens Healthineers reported adjusted earnings per share at €0.47 (51¢) for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2022. It reported revenues of nearly €5.1 billion ($5.6 billion) and profits totaling €426 million ($464.9 million).

The company reported a comparable revenue decline of 4.5% compared to the same three-month period one year prior. It attributed this in a news release to markedly lower revenue from rapid COVID-19 antigen test sales. Excluding the antigen tests, revenue growth registered at 0.7%. Diagnostic sales fell 23.7% year-over-year.

Imaging, in particular, demonstrated solid growth at a 5.2% clip. Advanced therapies grew 5% as well. However, the company’s Varian business saw sales dip by 4.5% as delays at a supplier caused disruptions. These disruptions have since been resolved, Siemens Hea…

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Varian wins U.S., European clearance for radiotherapy systems

The Halcyon radiotherapy system. [Image from the Varian website]Siemens Healthineers‘ Varian announced today that it received FDA 510(k) clearance and CE mark for its Halcyon and Ethos systems.

Both radiotherapy systems feature Varian’s HyperSight imaging solution. HyperSight enables clinicians to capture high-quality images of patients during their daily radiation treatments. The images help in the daily localization of patient tumors and their uses include replanning and adaptation to patient and tumor changes.

HyperSight uses cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) technology. This delivers larger images with better contrast. Varian said in a news release that this method is 10 times faster than conventional linear accelerator-based imaging systems. Traditional CBCT imaging may take up to 60 seconds and require patients to hold their breath. HyperSight acquires images in six seconds, potentially minimizing patient discomfort and anxiety while offering …

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Siemens Healthineers, GE HealthCare reportedly express interest in Medtronic units

According to reports, Siemens Healthineers and GE HealthCare registered interest in acquiring business units from Medtronic (NYSE:MDT).

Bloomberg first reported the interest from the two companies in two units Medtronic plans to spinoff. The outlet cited people familiar with the matter.

In October, Medtronic announced its intention to pursue a separation of the company’s Patient Monitoring and Respiratory Interventions businesses. Both comprise part of the company’s Medical Surgical portfolio. In spinning those businesses off, the company aims to create value for itself and shareholders, CEO Geoff Martha said.

According to Bloomberg, sources indicated that Medtronic remains open to a sale at the right price. The report also said it values the businesses at more than $7 billion. Others registering interest include private equity firms, Bloomberg said.

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Corindus rebrands as Siemens Healthineers Endovascular Robotics

The CorPath system. [Image from Siemens Healthineers Endovascular Robotics/Corindus]Siemens Healthineers announced that its Corindus company rebranded to “Siemens Healthineers Endovascular Robotics.”

In 2019, Siemens Healthineers bought out Corindus for $1.1 billion. Corindus develops the CorPath robot-assisted device for coronary and peripheral vascular procedures.

According to a news release, brand unification represents “the final step” in the company integration process that began in 2019. The business aims to advance interventions with robotics, changing the delivery of care through innovations. These innovations enhance physician techniques and bring precision to interventional procedures, Siemens said.

Siemens said it now offers the Endovascular Robotics business access to its company-wide resources. That allows it to continue advancing its vision of developing innovative, image-guided robotic solutions. It intends to continue…

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Siemens Healthineers presents duo of new MRI scanners

The Magnetom Cima.X (left) and Magnetom Terra.X (right). [Image from Siemens Healthineers]Siemens Healthineers this week presented its two latest magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tomographs for clinical and scientific use.

The company unveiled its Magnetom Cima.X with 3T field strength and Magnetom Terra.X with 7T at its Siemens Healthineers Shape 23 Keynote.

“Due to their high field strengths and strong gradient performance, both scanners will be optimal for detecting the finest structures in the body more clearly,” said Aruther Kaindl, head of MRI at Siemens Healthineers. “By introducing AI-based algorithms on these high-end scanners for the first time, we reduce the scanning time in MRI by up to 50%4, while improving image quality.”

About the 3T Magnetom Cima.X from Siemens

The 3T Magnetom Cima.X uses Siemens’ strongest gradient. It features an amplitude of 200 mT/m and a slew rate of 200 T/m/s. The company said this registers 2.5…

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Siemens Healthineers plans to streamline its Diagnostics business

Siemens Healthineers plans to halve the number of diagnostic platforms it offers in coming years as it seeks to overcome supply chain and other external challenges.

In its Q4 earning announcement today, the German medtech giant said the €1.5-billion-a-year Diagnostics business faces procurement and logistics challenges. Also, there are foreign currency headwinds and COVID-related lockdowns in China.

Siemens Healthineers recently started the controlled rollout of its CI 1900 low-to-mid-volume analyzer in Europe.

“We will undertake significant measures to reduce complexity by reducing the number of our platforms by more than 50% over time following the CI 1900 platform launch,” CEO Bernd Montag said during the company’s earnings call today, transcribed by Seeking Alpha.

“Our portfolio complexity has been a particular burden in the current challenging environment and supply chain environment. … We will streamline our sup…

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The 10 largest medtech employers — and what their employees really think

Employees of the 10 largest medtech employers are happy to be a part of a company that is having a positive impact on patient populations.

That was one major takeaway as MassDevice compiled some current and former employee reviews posted on Glassdoor.

Medtronic, Philips and Johnson & Johnson MedTech top the list of largest medtech employers. The 10 companies we looked at were the largest employers in Medical Design & Outsourcing‘s newest Big 100 report on the largest medical device companies.

Company Employees Medtronic 95,000 Philips 78,189 Johnson & Johnson MedTech 75,000

As with most companies, there are some qualms with corporate bureaucracy and reorganizations creating frustration for employees.

Employment in the medtech industry is on the rise, according to a recent analysis of our Medtech Big 100 data. There were 1,268,924 employees among the 100 largest companies that report human capital in their annual repor…

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Corindus announces positive study results for CorPath neurovascular system

[Image from Corindus] Corindus today announced positive results from a study of its CorPath used in robotic-assisted neurovascular aneurysm embolization. The Siemens Healthineers company, which develops precision vascular robotics, presented results from a first-of-its-kind study demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of robotic-assisted neurovascular aneurysm embolization using the CorPath GRX neurovascular system. Newton, Massachusetts-based Corindus said the study is the world’s first trial on robotic-assisted neurovascular aneurysm embolization. Dr. Michel Piotin, principal investigator and head of the interventional neuroradiology department at the Rothschild Foundation Hospital in Paris, presented results at the European Society of Minimally Invasive Neurological Therapy (ESMINT) Congress in Nice, France. It was a prospective, single-arm, international, multi-center, non-inferiority study. CorPath GRX demonstrated 94% technical success. Corindus said it a…
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R.R. Donnelly & Sons helps to accelerate COVID-19 test delivery to U.S.

R.R. Donnelly & Sons (RRD) announced today that it used its supply chain capabilities to accelerate the delivery of rapid COVID-19 tests to the U.S.

The company, which specializes in helping medical device clients optimize their supply chain, said in a news release that it leveraged its ISO 13485 accredited facilities and ability to scale quickly to facilitate Siemens Healthineers’ time-sensitive effort to deliver its COVID-19 antigen self-tests to the U.S. market.

RRD and Siemens Healthineers collaborated to upscale with uncertain demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The company said that, during the omicron variant peak in January 2022, Siemens looked to make tens of millions of tests available to the U.S. through state, federal and local partnership efforts. It sought to expand warehouse space to meet the demand and accommodate the massive volumes of its product.

“It was critical to find a supplemental supply chain and warehouse solution that …

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16 surgical robotics companies you need to know

Intuitive remains the dominant surgical robotics company, but corporations ranging from Medtronic to Vicarious Surgical look to compete. The Da Vinci Xi robotic surgery system. Intuitive continues to dominate the space. [Image courtesy of Intuitive]Robotic-assisted surgery remains one of the hottest spaces in medtech. Intuitive, which pioneered the field in the 1990s and early 2000s, continues to innovate. At the same time, a host of other companies are looking to compete.

Companies making headlines in the robotic surgery space over the past year include:

Company Robotic system(s) Intuitive Surgical Da Vinci Xi, Da Vinci X, Da Vinci SP, Ion Medtronic Hugo Johnson & Johnson Monarch, Velys, Ottava Stryker Mako Siemens Healthineers’ Corindus CorPath GRX Vicarious Surgical Beta 2 Titan Medical Enos Asensus Surgical Senhance Moon Surgical Maestro Momentus Surgical Anovo Virtual Incision MIRA Stereotaxis Genesis RMN, Vdrive, Niobe Monteris …
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Siemens Healthineers sales down nearly 6% in Q3, but it sticks with outlook

Siemens Healthineers (ETR:SHL) shares are on the decline today upon the release of the company’s third-quarter financial results.

Shares of SHL were down 0.9% at $24.93 per share in mid-afternoon trading today. MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — was up 1%.

The company said in a news release that it saw a decline in revenue totaling 5.7%, due to lower revenues from rapid COVID-19 antigen tests and a challenging environment that included COVID-19-related lockdowns in China. Excluding the COVID-19 antigen tests, the company’s revenues grew 0.9%.

Siemens Healthineers’ comparable revenues ticked up 8.2% at its Varian oncology company and 5.2% in advanced therapies, while imaging grew by 2.5%. Diagnostics dropped 23.9% as a result of the COVID-19 testing dip.

The company’s adjusted earnings per share dipped to approximately 44¢ (€0.43), representing…

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FDA clears Intuitive, Siemens Healthineers imaging integration for robotic bronchoscopy

[Image from Intuitive]Intuitive (Nasdaq:ISRG) announced that the FDA cleared an integration of imaging technology with the Ion robot-assisted bronchoscopy system.

The integration covers a mobile cone-beam CT (CBCT) imaging technology, developed by Siemens Healthineers, called Cios Spin.

Cios Spin offers integrated functionality with Ion to provide 2D and 3D imaging during procedures to help physicians gain confidence around refining Ion’s catheter positioning and help improve biopsy tool placement, according to a news release.

Sunnyvale, California-based Intuitive said early studies demonstrate that Ion enables a diagnostic yield of approximately 80% in studies with a relatively small average nodule size. The integration of Ion with Siemens’ imaging technology could improve the accuracy of biopsy procedures, aiding in the diagnosis of lung cancer, the company said, through the enhancement of a physician’s ability to provide minimally invas…

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