Thermo Fisher Scientific Archives - Page 3 of 4

3M, Abbott in top 50 of Fortune’s most admired companies list

[Photo by Guillermo Latorre on Unsplash]Medtech giants 3M (NYSE:MMM) and Abbott (NYSE:ABT) made it into the top 50 of Fortune‘s 2021 World’s Most Admired Companies list.

3M — a manufacturing conglomerate that also has one of the largest medical device businesses in the world — came in at No. 24, up from No. 29 in the 2020 list. Abbott meanwhile was No. 42, up from No. 52.

Both companies have been playing important roles in efforts to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.

3M is an important supplier of N95 masks and other protective gear for healthcare and other essential workers.

Abbott in early 2020 developed three molecular diagnostic tests for the SARS-CoV-2 virus within a 30-day time span. By the late summer, it won an FDA emergency use authorization in the late summer for its speedy BinaxNow COVID-19 Ag Card antigen test.

Other medical device companies making it into the Fortune most admired companies list include Boston Scientific (…

Corza Medical set to take on “almost monopolistic” surgical giants

Corza Medical, a new venture backed by the financial firepower of private equity giant GTCR, is looking to build a surgical tools supplier that its Executive Chairman Greg Lucier says can compete with “almost monopolistic” leaders in the space.

To mount the challenge, Corza acquired Surgical Specialties Corp., a supplier of surgical sutures and ophthalmic knives. Corza will use this beachhead in Westwood, Mass. to build a pipeline of acquired assets including TachoSil, a surgical patch product line Corza had acquired from Takeda Pharmaceuticals last year.

In an interview with the DeviceTalks Weekly podcast, Lucier, the former CEO of spinal company Nuvasive and diagnostic leader Life Technologies, says management believes “there is an opening for a pretty good-sized surgical tools and technologies company to compete against the Ethicons and the Medtronics of the world.”

Lucier said the two Goliaths have reached a size that makes them “almost monopolistic …

MedTech 100 roundup: Another peak for the industry

Medtech has been on the rise in 2021 and the past week saw that trend continue, as the industry hit yet another all-time best mark.

MassDevice‘s MedTech 100 index reached 107.4 points on Jan. 20, topping the all-time best of 106.81 points set on Jan. 8. That mark represents a 16% jump from the pre-pandemic high of 92.32 set on Feb. 19, 2020, and a 72.9% overall leap from the lowest point of 62.13 set on March 23, 2020.

Here are some of the best-performing medtech stocks from 2020.

The high point could not be sustained, but the industry stayed strong, finishing at 106.4 to end the week on Jan. 22. Medtech’s finish to last week was enough to top the previous seven days, coming in 0.6% ahead of the 105.8-point mark set on Jan. 15.

While medtech saw slight growth from the previous week, one of the overall markets saw a larger jump, with the S&P 500 Index rising 1.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fared identically to medtech, rising 0.6%.

Thermo Fisher to acquire Mesa Biotech

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) today announced it will acquire Mesa Biotech, a privately held molecular diagnostic company, for approximately $450 million in cash.

Under the terms of the agreement, Thermo Fisher will pay up to an additional $100 million in cash upon the completion of certain milestones following the close of the transaction.

Mesa Biotech has developed and commercialized a PCR-based rapid point-of-care testing platform available for detecting infectious diseases including SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A and B, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and Strep A. The San Diego-based company has approximately 500 employees and revenues in 2020 of approximately $45 million.

Mesa Biotech’s Accula Flu A/Flu B, RSV and Strep A tests have obtained 510(k) clearance and Clinical Laboratory Improvements Amendments (CLIA) waivers from the FDA. The agency also granted emergency use authorization for the Accula system for SARS-CoV-2 in vitro diagnostic …

MedTech 100 roundup: Stocks brought back down again

A week after topping pre-pandemic highs, the medtech industry’s stocks were brought back down to earth in quick fashion.

MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — finished last week at 89.03 (Sep. 11), marking a -0.3% dip from the 89.29 points registered at the end of the week prior (Sep. 4).

However, the slight dip from week-to-week doesn’t show that, just before the Sep. 4 mark, medtech stocks had reached 93.11 points on Sep. 2, coming in nearly a full point ahead of the pre-pandemic high of 92.32, which the market reached on Feb. 19.

During the week, the index dipped down to 88.22 points, which is the lowest total it has reached since it sat at 87.06 on July 16. By climbing back up to 89.03, the index now represents a -4.4% drop from the Sep. 2 high point and a -3.6% drop from the pre-pandemic high set on Feb. 19.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index saw a -2.5% dip from Sep…

Thermo Fisher to manufacture Inovio COVID-19 vaccine candidate

Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NSDQ:INO) announced that Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) will manufacture its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based Inovio said in a news release yesterday that Thermo Fisher signed a letter of intent to manufacture the INO-4800 COVID-19 vaccine candidate, joining a consortium of third-party manufacturers that aim to produce 100 million doses of Inovio’s vaccine by 2021, subject to FDA approval.

Get the full story at our sister site, Drug Delivery Business News.

Thermo Fisher opens plant to make COVID-19 testing supplies

(Image courtesy of Thermo Fisher)

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) announced today that it has opened its $40 million manufacturing facility in Lenexa, Kan.

The facility is dedicated to viral transport media (VTM) but will continue to expand to meet expected demand for COVID-19 testing, according to a news release.

In May, Thermo Fisher received a U.S. government contract to provide a significant quantity of highly specialized VTM for COVID-19 sample collection. The company said it ramped up production in Lenexa from 50,000 units per week to more than 8 million per week since the facility began production in early July.

Thermo Fisher said in the release that the new facility has created more than 300 new full-time jobs as it added 120,000 ft2 of manufacturing capacity.

“Thermo Fisher is proud to support virtually every aspect of the global COVID-19 response and our colleagues i…

DTW Podcast: Can Fractyl Labs and Cala Health go where only drugs have gone before?

In this week’s DeviceTalks Weekly podcast, co-costs Tom Salemi and Chris Newmarker walk through this week’s “Newmarker’s Newsmakers,” the Top Five #medtech stories of the week with news coming from CureVac, Avail Medsystems, ClearMask, Thermo Fisher and Bayer.

We also hear from CEO Harith Rajagopalan, MD and CFO Lisa Davidson of Fractyl Laboratories, which is making great strides in developing a device to treat diabetes.

Cala Health CEO Renee Ryan returns to the podcast to give us an update on the Cala Trio’s clinical success in reducing essential tremors and how the start-up is working through COVID-19.

Finally, Chris and Tom hint at an upcoming event for the DTW community.

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other players.

DeviceTalks by MassDevice · Can Fractyl Labs and Cala Health go where only drugs have gone before?

The top 5 MassDevice stories of the week — August 21, 2020

COVID-19 continues to dominate medical device industry news on MassDevice.

The pandemic is causing more major lawsuit settling — as well as efforts to offer more medtech to enable better management of the coronavirus.

Want to hear more about the week’s top news? Executive editor Chris Newmarker and Tom Salemi will discuss during our DeviceTalks Weekly podcast. Without further ado, here’s this week’s MassDevice Top Five:

5. CureVac raises more than $200M in IPO

CureVac (NSDQ:CVAC) — a Germany-based biotech outfit — is developing a COVID-19 vaccine with backing from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Read the full story.

4. This telemedicine system could get medtech sales reps back to ORs

Avail Medsystem’s telemedicine system could prove a more efficient way for sales reps to sit in on surgeries, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hinder access to hospitals. Read the full story.

3. FDA clears ClearMask transparent surgical mas…

FDA warns on false results for Thermo Fisher TaqPath COVID-19 testing kit

The FDA today issued a warning for labs and healthcare providers due to a risk of false results with a Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) COVID-19 test kit.

Results from the Thermo Fisher TaqPath COVID-19 Combo Kit may be false, based on two issues related to the test kit and the associated Applied Biosystems COVID-19 interpretive software, according to an FDA release.

The first issue relates to inadequate vortexing and centrifugation of RT-PCR reaction plates. Following the company’s investigations into complaints, Thermo Fisher determined that these issues can lead to false-positive results. The company updated the instructions related to vortexing and centrifugation to reduce the risk of innaccuracies.

Additionally, the assay’s internal positive control (IPC) has an issue that requires laboratory staff to upgrade their software to reduce the risk of invalid, potential false-negatives or inconclusive tests in order to decrease the potentia…

MedTech 100 roundup: Up-and-down week for industry

Medtech stocks highlighted the topsy-turvy nature of the market last week, but ultimately finished the seven days nearly unchanged.

MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — sat at 89.77 points at the end of last week (Aug. 14). Overall, medtech stocks saw a 0.13% increase from the 89.65-point total at the same time a week prior (Aug. 7).

On Aug. 13, the index reached 90.4 points, a total that nearly poked past the previous mid-pandemic high (90.45), which came just last week.

The most recent high mark represents just a -2.1% dip from the Feb. 19 high point of 92.32, while the tally at the end of the week marks a -2.8% decrease from that pre-pandemic high.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index saw a 0.64% increase from Aug. 7 to Aug. 14, and the Dow Jones Index fared even better, rising 1.8% over the same period of time.

Medtech’s lowest point during the COVID-19 pandemic remains at …

HHS puts $6.5M more toward COVID-19 testing

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said today it will provide a total of $6.5 million to help two commercial diagnostic laboratories to expand capacity to conduct up to 4 million additional diagnostic tests for COVID-19 per month.

The investments in Aegis Sciences (Nashville, Tenn.) and in Sonic Healthcare USA (Austin, Texas) will provide laboratory equipment supplied by Beckman Coulter and Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) and increase staffing and infrastructure to boost testing nationwide by an additional 1 million tests each week by early October, according to the agency.

Aegis will add laboratory staff and begin construction on new lab space at its Nashville testing facilities to meet its goal of processing more than 60,000 test samples per day beginning in September. Aegis has agreed to partner with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health to perform testing of samples from select locations with vulnerable populations, accor…