University of Pennsylvania Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

How ProQR aims to use RNA therapy to target genetic forms of blindness

The rare disease biotech ProQR (NSDQ:PRQR) has a mission of reversing blindness from inherited retinal diseases. The company seems to be on track to realize that ambition, having recently announced promising data in treating a condition known as Leber congenital amaurosis type 10 in clinical studies.

One patient with the childhood form of blindness gained durable vision improvement after a single injection of ProQR’s investigational RNA therapy sepofarsen. That case study was published in Nature Medicine and featured in Drug Discovery & Development.

To learn more about the company behind sepofarsen, we spoke with its CEO, Daniel de Boer. In the following interview, De Boer shed light on ProQR’s approach to treating genetic forms of blindness, sharing how the firm can grow artificial retinas.

Drug Discovery & Development: What led you to found ProQR Therapeutics?

Daniel De Bo…

Medical device companies put $3.6 billion in docs’ pockets, study finds

Medtech companies paid $3.62 billion for access to physicians — 10% more than drug companies did — from 2014 to 2017, according to new research.

Device company payments to surgical specialists were significantly more tied to the surgeons’ Medicare billing than payments from drug companies to specialists, according to the study, which appears in the April 2021 edition of Health Affairs.

Payments totaling more than $2.3 billion by 10 medical device firms accounted for more than two-thirds of all device payments to physicians, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University found.

Get the full story on our sister site, Medical Design & Outsourcing.

Integra touts outcomes, cost-savings in wound-healing studies

(Image from Integra LifeSciences)

A pair of retrospective studies of an Integra LifeSciences (NSDQ:IART) wound-healing matrix showed positive clinical and economic results, the company announced on Friday.

The studies looked at the results of complex lower extremity reconstruction using Integra’s bilayer wound matrix. The data were published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

The bilayer wound-healing matrix is formulated to provide an environment where the body can rebuild the layers of the skin to support the healing process, according to Princeton, N.J.-based Integra.

The first clinical publication showed 70% of the wounds successfully salvaged at 180 days, allowing the authors to identify success factors across patient selection and wound types.

The second publication reviewed cost and resource use, comparing Integra’…