Health Imaging & IT - January 2008 - (Page 10)

NEWS UPDATE In the Courts Supreme Court hears appeal that may prohibit suits for FDA-cleared devices The Supreme Court heard the case of Medtronic and other medical device manufacturers that are appealing to shield themselves from product liability lawsuits against FDA-approved devices. The case, Riegel v. Medtronic, was brought by Charles Riegel, who was injured when a Medtronic catheter burst during a 1996 angioplasty procedure. Riegel died in 2004. His widow now represents her husband’s case, asserting that the catheter had design flaws and carried misleading labeling instructions. Medtronic’s attorney, Theodore Olsen, told the justices that a product in compliance with the FDA should not be found liable for negligence by a jury in a state tort lawsuit. “The FDA is the right place for these decisions,” Olsen said. Justices Stephen Breyer and Antonin Scalia appeared to agree that juries should not be empowered to question the FDA. The Supreme Court is expected to make a decision on the case by July 2008. Business Buzz  Canadian medical isotope maker MDS Nordion is back up and running after the Canadian government passed legislation to reopen the Ontario nuclear reactor after the Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL) had decided to extend its closure, which began Nov. 18 to Jan. 2008. During the closure, hundreds of thousands of medical tests for cancer diagnoses were in limbo because the facility supplies about two-thirds of the medical isotope market. The AECL shut it down for maintenance and the upgrade of its electrical back-up system. GE Healthcare has licensed a new technique that automates the acquisition of ultrasound images used by physicians to diagnose fetal heart defects, patented by Alfred Abuhamad, MD, an Eastern Virginia Medical School obstetrician. GE has incorporated his automation protocol in its Voluson E8, an ultrasound platform for women’s healthcare. The Circulatory System Devices Advisory Panel to the FDA recommended approval for Abbott Laboratories’ Xience V and Promus everolimus-eluting coronary stent systems. The FDA committee has recommended approval with conditions related to post-marketing study requirements and language related to dual anti-platelet therapy. Toshiba Medical Systems and TomTec Imaging Systems have entered an agreement to deliver new tools for assessing cardiac 4D data and a collaboration to make them more widely available. TomTec will expand its workstation products compatibility to analyze Artida 2D, 3D and 4D ultrasound data. Mergers & Acquisitions Philips to acquire Emergin & Visicu to boost IT, patient monitoring Royal Philips Electronics will acquire Emergin, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based provider of software that transmits medical alarm signals throughout hospitals. The company also announced plans to acquire clinical IT and service provider Visicu of Baltimore for approximately $300 million. Through the Emergin acquisition, Philips said it will expand the use of healthcare IT, specifically in its patient monitoring business. By integrating Visicu’s remote patient monitoring and clinical decision support technology with Philips’ patient monitors, the company hopes to enhance its investment in clinical IT solutions.   Bristol-Myers to sell medical imaging division, to lay off 10% Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has agreed to sell its Medical Imaging business, headquartered in North Billerica, Mass., to Avista Capital for $525 million. With the purchase, Avista will acquire the rights to radiopharmaceuticals and contrast agent products, of which Definity and Cardiolite have been the most profitable. BMS also announced that it will lay off approximately 10 percent of its 43,000 employees and close half of its production facilities, which would cut $1.5 billion in costs by 2010.  IBM to acquire online storage provider IBM plans to purchase Arsenal Digital Solutions, an online data storage services and data protection services company. Arsenal Digital of Cary, N.C., and its 100 employees will become part of IBM Global Technology Services, IBM’s largest business unit headquartered in Raleigh, N.C. IBM said that the acquisition will not result in any layoffs. Arsenal Digital serves approximately 3,400 customers in small and midsize businesses that want data protection and online access. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and the acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008. STAY CONNECTED: For daily news, log onto HealthImaging.com 10 Health Imaging & IT | January 2008 HealthImaging.com http://HealthImaging.com http://HealthImaging.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Health Imaging & IT - January 2008

Health Imaging & IT Table of Contents On the Web The Enterprise: Is More Better? News Update A Look Inside Next-Generation Multidetector CT Convention Spotlight: RSNA in Review RIS/PACS in the Imaging Center Sweden: A Study in Mammography Excellence The Votes are in: Yea for Speech in U.S. Capital & Beyond Subspecialty Reading Services: Quality Reads, Peace of Mind, 24/7 Enterprise Lung CAD Eases Workflow Advertisers Index Company Index Coming Soon Stat Sheet

Health Imaging & IT - January 2008

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