Siemens Healthineers Archives - Page 6 of 7

Siemens Healthineers completes Varian acquisition

Siemens Healthineers (ETR:SHL) announced today that it completed its acquisition of Varian Medical Systems (NYSE:VAR).

In August, the companies announced that Siemens would acquire Varian in a $16.4 billion deal to create what the companies said will be the most comprehensive cancer care portfolio in the industry. Varian shareholders approved the deal in October. Several personnel moves have followed, including the planned retirement of Varian CEO Dow Wilson and the resignation of Varian CFO J. Michael Bruff.

Following today’s closing of the acquisition, Varian is expected to positively contribute to Siemens Healthineers’ adjusted basic earnings per share within the first 12 months, according to a news release.

The two companies are building on a strategic partnership called EnVision, which sets out to establish a digital, diagnostic and therapeutic ecosystem that includes treatment management. Siemens and Varian are set to use AI-assisted an…

Varian CFO resigning ahead of Siemens Healthineers acquisition

Varian Medical Systems CFO J. Michael Bruff has decided to resign from the company to pursue other opportunities.

In an announcement released yesterday, the company confirmed that Bruff’s decision will be made effective on March 12, 2021, with SVP, chief accounting officer and corporate controller Magnus Momsen set to serve in the role on an interim basis.

Momsen, 46, has served in the three roles he currently holds, plus as the company’s principal accounting officer, since January 2017, having joined the company in September 2010 as the controller of emerging businesses.

Bruff’s decision to depart the company comes on the heels of last week’s announcement that that CEO Dow Wilson will retire after Siemens Healthineers‘ planned $16.4 billion acquisition of the company, which is expected to close in the first half of this year.

Varian CEO Dow Wilson to retire after merger with Siemens Healthineers

Varian CEO Dow Wilson

Varian (NYSE: VAR) announced today that CEO Dow Wilson will retire after Siemens Healthineers‘ planned $16.4 billion acquisition of the company, which is expected to close in the first half of this year.

Wilson, who has been with Varian for 16 years, will serve as a special advisor to Siemens Healthineers (Frankfurt: SHL) to help support the integration. Varian COO Chris Toth will become CEO of Siemens Healthineers’ new Varian business segment.

“Since his appointment as CEO in 2012, Dow has led Varian’s efforts to define a new era in cancer care,” Varian board chair Andrew Eckert said in a news release.

“In addition to significantly extending the company’s market leadership and innovation in radiation therapy, he oversaw Varian’s progress in bringing artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud solutions to the fight against cancer. Through this strategic transformation, Varian …

Siemens Healthineers inks $169.7M health tech support contract in UK

Siemens Healthineers (ETR: SHL) announced today that it entered into a 15-year strategic contract worth $169.7 million (€140 million).

The partnership, inked with Manchester (UK) University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) is slated to include the planning, installation and maintenance of 222 pieces of critical medical equipment, with approximately 350 planned installations over the life of the contract, according to a news release.

An on-site team will also be present to ensure the technology performs and aid with the administrative processes for MFT as a single point of contact for all technology-related matters, Siemens Healthineers said.

Additionally, the contract includes a training program for users in the imaging pathway while MFT will receive financial planning security over the contract period.

Equipment provided under the agreement is designed to improve patient care and meet the growing demand for imaging and better both staff satisfaction an…

Varian posts mixed bag Q1 results, expects Siemens takeover to complete in early 2021

Varian Medical Systems (NYSE:VAR) reported first-quarter results today that beat the earnings consensus on Wall Street but missed on revenue.

The company reported profits of $96.8 million, or $1.14 per share, on sales of $778.8 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2020, for a bottom-line gain of 8.9% sales loss of -6% compared with Q1 2020.

Adjusted to exclude one time-items, earnings per share were 82¢, 28¢ ahead of The Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $842.9 million.

“Our fourth-quarter performance continues to reaffirm the criticality of radiation therapy as a core treatment modality. I am proud of our dedicated employees who ensured our customers and their patients continued to have uninterrupted access to our innovative technology and solutions,” CEO Dow Wilson said in a news release. “While the pandemic continues to be a headwind, we are entering our next fiscal year with significant operating momentum, and …

Former Corindus CEO Toland joins robotic `micro’ surgical startup

Mark Toland, the former CEO of Corindus Vascular Robotics, believes the next big opportunity for surgical robotics is actually very small.

Toland, who sold the telesurgery robotics company to Siemens in 2019 for $1.1 billion, is now the CEO of Medical Microinstruments S.p.A. (MMI), an Italian company that has developed a surgical robotic system capable of performing microsurgery on capillaries, small vessels and other parts of the body existing robots – and maybe even surgeons – can’t reach.

“You see robotics companies that are trying to be the next Intuitive surgical or go after the laparoscopic surgery play,” Toland says. The objective “of this company is, `I want to create a field that doesn’t even exist today.’”

Founded in 2015 near Pisa, MMI in 2019 secured a CE-Mark for its Symani Surgical System to be used in open microsurgical procedures. The system already has been used in four surgical procedures in Florence, Italy including t…

Siemens, Novartis team up on MS drug development

Siemens Healthineers (ETR:SHL) and Novartis (NYSE:NVS) have agreed to jointly design, develop and commercialize diagnostic tests for therapeutic products across Novartis’ therapeutic pipeline, the companies announced today.

The first project will be a serum neurofilament light chain (NfL) immunoassay for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurological diseases.

NfL is a highly specific biomarker for nerve cell injury measured in cerebral spinal fluid and blood. Blood NfL levels have been reported to change in a variety of serious neurological conditions, including MS, according to a 2018 study published in Nature.

This collaboration will use Siemens Healthineers’ expertise in the development of clinical diagnostic tests that can run on its ADVIA Centaur and Atellica immunoassay platforms, designed for use in hospitals, reference laboratories, and specialty laboratories. Siemens Healthineers will also be global distributor of the immunoassay…

Medtech and COVID-19: 7 things you need to know

[Photo by Sasha • Stories on Unsplash]

When COVID-19 set upon the U.S. in March, medtech executives only had a month at most to explain to analysts in quarterly calls how the pandemic was hitting their companies — not nearly enough time to understand the long-term impact.

Three more months have passed since those quarterly calls, and we’re now wrapping up a new earnings season. While no one can be 100% sure what the future will hold, medtech executives’ comments — and their companies’ actions — are shedding some light on changes coming to the medtech industry.

Here are seven insights we’ve gleaned at Medical Design & Outsourcing and MassDevice from the latest medtech earnings season.

Next>> Listen to us discuss all 10 points during our latest DeviceTalks Weekly podcast>>

Executive editor Chris Newmarker contributed to this report.

MedTech 100 roundup: Another high as stocks tick up

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…

Siemens Healthineers wins FDA clearance for in-bed CT head scans

Siemens Healthineers (ETR:SHL) announced today that the FDA cleared its Somatom On.site mobile head computed tomography (CT) scanner.

Malvern, Pa.-based Siemens Healthineers’ Somatom On.site scanner enables critically ill patients to receive CT head imaging in the intensive care unit (ICU) while remaining in bed, eliminating costly transports to the radiology department, according to a news release.

Somatom On.site offers easy scan setup, fast workflow and integrated patient support accessories, along with an intelligent user interface called myExam Companion, which helps the radiologic technologist navigate the examination.

The system also utilizes an integrated drive camera for real-time viewing on the built-in Touch UI display for easy maneuvering by the technologist. Somatom On.site’s design is touted as capable of reducing scatter radiation compared to standard CT scanners, providing radiation protection for neighboring patients and staf…

New Siemens antibody test can help quantify level of immune response to COVID-19

Siemens Healthineers (ETR: SHL) today announced that it’s secured an FDA emergency use authorization for its SARS-CoV-2 IgG (COV2G) antibody test, which the company touts as the first authorized with semi-quantitative detection.

The COV2G test not only provides positive or negative result for IgG antibodies but also reports a numerical result expressed as index value — helping clinicians to gauge the level of IgG antibodies in a patient’s blood sample. The idea is that the test will help clinicians better understand how people’s immune response changes over time after exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19.

The test has also attained the CE Mark in the European Union and is now broadly available globally. The test, according to Siemens, has b sensitivity and specificity that is greater than 99%.

“Our high-quality antibody test helps clinicians assess the level of a person‘s immune response, which is an important tool to have at this stage…

Siemens Healthineers to buy Varian for $16.4b

Siemens Healthineers (ETR: SHL) will acquire Varian Medical Systems (NYSE:VAR) in a $16.4 billion deal to create what the companies say will be the most comprehensive cancer care portfolio in the industry.

SHL shares closed down –8.95% to €40.02 apiece in trading in Germany today, while VAR shares are up 21.61% to $173.57 apiece as of midday NYSE trading. MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stock prices of the world’s largest medical device companies — is up 1.2% as of midday.

Both companies today also reported sales declines due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused a reduction in healthcare procedures not related to the coronavirus.

The merger is slated for completion during the first half of 2021, pending approval of shareholders, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The deal, according to the companies, will combine complementary diagnostic tools, imaging, radiotherapy and AI capabilities to enable…