Massachusetts Medical Device Events Calendar
Want to learn more about the medical device industry and its key issues? The greater Boston area hosts a ton of medical device events, but it has always been a pain to try to find them. So, I’ve added a new page to my blog, a Medical Device Events Calendar. Check it out here.
If you have an event that you’d like me to add, leave me a comment at the bottom of the calendar page.
I’m fortunate to live in one of world’s great medical device hubs, so I hope you’ll forgive this unabashed promotion. Massachusetts is home to hundreds of innovative medical device companies, and we are well known as a source of med-tech start-ups. What’s less known is that Massachusetts is the best place for European and Israeli companies to set up their US operations.
Andover Massachusetts (population 33,201) is practically the United Nations of medical devices, hosting Switzerland-based Straumann, Netherlands-based Philips, Germany’s Draeger Medical, and UK’s Smith & Nephew.
Last year, Syneron merged with Candela in Wayland MA, becoming the largest Israeli medical device company in New England. Israeli start-up Odin Medical located its US HQ in MA prior to its acquisition by Medtronic, and Israeli start-up rcadia has their HQ in Newton, MA. EarlySense is the most recent Israeli company to locate here.
Ireland-based Creganna, a leading provider of medical device contract R&D, set up its first US location in Massachusetts and later expanded to locations in California and Cleveland. Ireland’s Shimmer Research, designer of new devices for wearable health sensing, set up their US operations in Boston.
I’d love to see more European and Israeli companies set up shop here. If you are developing a great new medical device outside the US, and thinking about entering the US market, you should be thinking about Massachusetts. Here’s why.
Continue reading “Bringing your medical device to the U.S.? Start in Massachusetts”
Every venture firm claims to be looking for great companies to support. The reality is that many have no money for new investments, having reserved their remaining cash for their current portfolio.
How can a medical device entrepreneur find the firms that have the capacity for new investments? How can an entrepreneur find fresh money? Wouldn’t it be great if someone created a list of life science venture capital firms that have recently raised money?
Continue reading “Life Science Venture Capital Fundraising List”
A great coder with a great idea can start an amazing web 2.0 business. In the web startup world, college dropouts create billion dollar businesses by their mid-20’s. In the medical device industry though, experience counts. You’ll need a VP Regulatory Affairs that has several FDA approvals in the last 10 years. Your head of product development should have driven several products successfully to market. Your head of marketing should be a creative product launch veteran. I hope your manufacturing team has built many medical device products before.
“Ramen profitable” doesn’t work for medical device companies. Medical device companies need experienced talent. Experienced talent deserves fair compensation.
What’s the right compensation policy?
Continue reading “The lean medical device startup compensation policy”
If you haven’t already heard the big news from last week, Johnson and Johnson’s Cordis subsidiary announced its withdrawal from the drug-eluting (DES) stent market, a momentous event for the firm that launched the first DES and created a new multi-billion-dollar medical device sector. Cordis is also shutting down its Conor MedSystems DES business, which it acquired for $1.4 billion in 2007. My reaction: Wow!
Meanwhile, the same week, the NY Times reported that metal-on-metal hip implants may become “the largest product liability cases of this decade.” The FDA website states that “on May 6, 2011 the FDA issued orders for postmarket surveillance studies to manufacturers of metal-on-metal hip systems. The FDA sent 145 orders to 21 manufacturers.”
Two long-term implants. Two medical device sectors. One critical difference.
Last week, the Boston Globe reported that Lahey Clinic and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center held early discussions on a possible merger.
Last November, Cereberus Capital, a private equity firm, bought Caritas Christi, a group of six hospitals in the Boston area. In December the newly named Steward Health Care System bought two more hospitals in the region. This April, Steward added its ninth local hospital. In June, Steward offered to purchase Landmark Medical Center in Rhode Island. More acquisitions are planned.
In January, Northeast Hospital Corp (owner of Beverly Hospital, Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester, BayRidge psychiatric hospital in Lynn, and a Danvers outpatient clinic) began exploring a merger or sale to a larger regional player. By June, Lahey Clinic, Beth Israel Deaconess, Steward Health Care System, and Vanguard Health Systems had all made offers to buy.
In April, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Milton Hospital announced plans to merge in six months.
Provider consolidation isn’t just a Boston phenomenon. Healthcare services M&A is heating up all across the US. What’s going on, and what does consolidation mean for medical device companies?
Continue reading “The Looming Impact of Healthcare Service Consolidation”
Payments to physicians always raise conflict-of-interest issues for medical device companies (see my post on When Is It Okay to Pay Physicians?). These issues never go away. Today, the Wall Street Journal reported that five US Senators have requested an investigation into the legality of Physician-Owned Distributorships (PODs).
Not being in the spinal implant business, this is the first I’ve ever heard of PODs. What are PODs and what are the implications for medical device companies?
Continue reading “Caution: Physician-Owned Distributorships Ahead”
A recent article in The Economist describes “The dwindling allure of building factories offshore.” The article concludes that “Increasingly, it makes sense to make things in a variety of places, including America.”
I agree. Medical device companies face the same global opportunities and challenges as other manufacturers. While moving medical device manufacturing to a low-wage location sounds like a no-brainer, it takes real skill and experience to make it work well. Sometimes it makes sense, and sometimes it doesn’t.
How do you decide?
Continue reading ““The Dwindling Allure of Building Factories Offshore””
Developing new products to improve patient care is the best part of being in the medical device industry. Who can argue with that?
You’ll find the most exciting devices being developed in venture-funded start-ups – a structure that provides the single-minded, do-or-die focus needed for success, along with the risk capital needed to fuel the work. Here in New England, we have a great medical device start-up ecosystem, with dozens of companies working to solve significant medical problems with great new devices.
Each quarter, the MoneyTree Survey lists virtually all venture financings in the US. The 2011 Q1 numbers just came out. Reviewing the data, I thought it would be a good time to look back at the New England medical device companies started in the past several years.
I was surprised by what I found.
Medical imaging systems have been talking to PACS systems for years, saving costs and improving care. I’m always impressed that my children’s doctors can access current and historical x-rays and MRI’s at the drop of a hat. Integration of devices with PACS enables medical images to be captured, backed up, transmitted, analyzed, and reviewed in other care sites and at other times. The age of the standalone medical imaging system is long gone.
Other medical devices are beginning to follow suit, interfacing with electronic medical records (EMRs) and hospital inventory management systems. Networked devices are on the way, and the age of the standalone medical device is heading to a close.
The era of networked medical brings challenges and opportunities. Are you ready?
Jay Caplan on Medical Devices 