Category: Medicaldevices

MEwens
Medical Device Price Gap: A report from the Government Accountability Office finds that some hospitals pay thousands of dollars more than others for the very same medical device, the WSJ reports. The higher prices could affect Medicare spending, since payments to hospitals are in part based on the institutions’ costs, the paper says.
New […]

MEwens
Birth-Control Recall: Pfizer has recalled about a million packs of birth-control pills on concerns that incorrect packaging could lead to unplanned pregnancies, but says it believes only 30 packs actually had the troublesome glitches, the WSJ reports. Pfizer has identified three production problems that could permit pills to be placed incorrectly in the […]

MEwens
The pharma industry has been waiting for guidance from the FDA on what is — and is not — permitted in terms of marketing online and via social media. (For example — who’s responsible for consumer Tweets about a drug?)
Hearings on the topic were held in November 2009 but so far there hasn’t […]

MEwens
Questioning the Use of a Genetic Test: A review of previously published research appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that a genetic test for patients taking the anti-clotting drug Plavix doesn’t identify people at greater risk for a heart attack or other cardiac event, the WSJ reports. The FDA, […]

MEwens
The FDA said it approved an external pump with implantable tubes to keep kids’ hearts going while they await a transplant.
The official name for the device is the Excor Pediatric System. But it’s commonly known by the name of its manufacturer, a German company called Berlin Heart.
Heart failure in kids is far less […]

MEwens
Attention Medicare Recipients: Medicare part B premiums for most beneficiaries are going up in 2012 by a smaller-than-expected $3.50 per month, to $99.90, the WSJ reports. People who enrolled in the government insurance program in the past few years have been paying a bit more — $115.40 per month — and will pay […]

MEwens
We confess our eyebrows went up here at Health Blog headquarters when news crossed the wires late yesterday that Johnson & Johnson’s top medical-device exec Michael Mahoney was named president and will eventually be CEO at beleaguered Boston Scientific.
The word “rivalry” is hardly sufficient to describe the bare-knuckled hostility that has characterized relations […]

MEwens
More Mesh Studies: An FDA advisory panel yesterday backed plans by the agency to require pre-approval studies for new surgical-mesh products inserted transvaginally to treat pelvic-organ prolapse as well as to conduct research on products already on the market, the WSJ reports. The products, whose manufacturers include Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific, […]

MEwens
Mesh in the Spotlight: An FDA advisory panel meets today to consider whether surgical mesh inserted vaginally to treat pelvic-organ prolapse should face tighter regulation, the WSJ reports. The FDA received about 1,500 reports of adverse events and seven deaths associated with the transvaginal use of the mesh for prolapse. Manufacturers including Johnson […]

MEwens
Pretend you’re a doctor.
You’re used to treating patients with a particular malady one way, but then a new technology comes on the market. It’s unproven, but seems promising. So what do you do for your patients — rely on the old way, or add the new?
Many physicians, eager, to marshal the latest technology […]