Category: Medical Devices

  For the last few years, I have represented the EDC and the region on business development trips to Europe, typically with the support and participation of Northeast Utilities/Western Mass Electric Co and as part of delegations representing the Commonwealth and New England’s Knowledge Corridor©. My most recent visit was during November 2011. The headlines about the sovereign debt crisis and related banking sector issues gave me pause that this visit might not be productive. But the reality was exactly the opposite, as I met with more total, as well as higher quality, prospects than any other year.   Part ...

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry has co-sponsored a bill designed to streamline the U.S. Food and Drug Administration process of approval for medical devices. Medical device executives in the state, and around the country, have complained about what they say is an arbitrary, prolonged and unpredictable process.

“Our key thing is getting public support of this product, but it also would help us move forward with our clinical development and the insurance reimbursement pathway,” founder and CEO Brian Mullen said. “It would help us to reach out to doctors and other caregivers of kids with autism and bring them into the process with us.”

  EDC Senior VP of Business Development Mike Graney will return to Europe in November to continue our international business development initiative. Mike annually attends Medica, the world’s premier medical device trade show in Düsseldorf. He will also represent the EDC as part of a New England’s Knowledge Corridor® (Hartford CT – Springfield MA region) sponsorship of a Dutch medical device regulatory affairs conference two days before Medica. The EDC’s goal is to identify and talk to corporate executives from firms that are interested in U.S. investment, partnerships and/or supply chain, especially in the northeast. Mike will ...

“In this year’s survey, we observe a more active approach in the last six months, and more change in the right direction when looking at the second half of the year,” MassMedic President Tom Sommer said in a statement. “This demonstrates the sector’s unrelenting desire to forge ahead and maintain its global standing in the industry even with t...

Thorn manufactures instrumentation and implantable surgical devices for the spine, knee, and hip using state-of-the-art computer numeric-controlled machinery. It also does its own laser marking, using a laser to mark parts for customers, as well as a process called passivation, which cleans instruments and implants with citric acid to remove imperfections in stainless steel or titanium.

Covidien is incorporated in Ireland but has corporate headquarters in Mansfield, Mass., with close to 2,000 employees in the state. Almeida said he does not foresee layoffs this year in Massachusetts associated with the restructuring, but warned that business conditions could change.

Connecticut Innovations, a quasi-public authority focused on technology investing and development, today said that it has provided $1.2 million in funding to Oxford Performance Materials LLC (OPM) of South Windsor, Conn., which manufactures medical implants.

The company has a total of about 100 employees, 18 at the old facility in Chicopee’s Cabotville Industrial Park. The remainder have worked on Westover Road since March, according to Wright.

The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center has opened up the application process for the 2011 Life Sciences Tax Incentive Program, which has the potential to dole out up to $25 million in tax breaks each year.

CEOs of Massachusetts biotech and medical device companies who have had issues with new federal policies will gain direct access to the commissioner of their chief regulatory agency today. U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) will accompany Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg to two roundtables in Boston. “Massachusetts is...

Amherst-based Therapeutic Systems — which in May launched its wearable Vayu vest that’s designed to help soothe autistic children — has raised $325,000 in initial seed-round funding in addition to $66,500 in prize and grant money. As one of 125 finalists in MassChallenge, its two executives hope not only to win some of the start-up comp...

Mullen co-developed the vest’s DeePAD technology, which is licensed from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. It’s based on research started when he was earning a master’s degree in mechanical engineering there and continued during Ph.D. studies. The vest, which sells for $2,000 and comes in three sizes, is fabricated by medical device manufacturer Dielectrics Inc. in Chicopee. It has a removable hand pump that allows the child, his parent, occupational therapist or other caregiver to inflate or deflate the internal vest “bladder” to apply the desired level of deep pressure to the child.

“With our in-vitro test, manufacturers and biomaterials researchers can screen thousands of polymers in less than a week,” he said in a statement, adding that the test can save time and expense during medical device checks because the embryos develop within 24 hours.

I attended the Biotechnology International Organization (“BIO”) Convention in Washington DC last week. The EDC has been part of the Massachusetts delegation at this convention for a decade.  While there is always some advantage to us to be part of the Massachusetts team, we have cut back on other trade shows where western Mass does not have a significant industry presence. But we retain our participation at BIO for several reasons. First, we still believe in the promise of the Massachusetts Life Science Center (“LSC”). The LSC was created to manage the $1 billion Mass Life Science Initiative, announced by ...