Devices

On July 21, 2004, in Devices
Two recent deals point to the heady growth of the medtech business, and its
convergence with the biotech business.
Medtech devices don’t have to have new functionality to be revolutionary. Just
shrinking them can have the same
effect.

Interior rooms in hospitals could be given virtual windows offering 3-D views of the
grounds, if claims of a Japanese inventor pan out. And instead of a forest of
confusing and expensive signs, visitors to those rooms could be given a handheld GPS-like device to
guide them to their destination.

An implantable power-chip
could reduce or eliminate the need for surgeries to replace implant
batteries.

A satellite-controlled pill
dispenser
helps ensure patients take the right meds at the right time.

Signs of Things to Come

Stent-maker Boston Scientific Corp. has paid about US$740 million in cash for
Advanced Bionics Corp., expanding its product line to include hearing aids,
pain-killing devices, and other electronic implant devices. The deal not only
indicates how profitable the stent business is, but also, says the Boston
Globe
‘s Ross Kerber, “underscores the industry’s appetite to snatch up
devices that can provide health benefits that drugs cannot.” In April, cochlear
implant maker Advanced Bionics got FDA clearance to sell an implantable spinal
cord stimulation device to treat pain, and recently bought a company that
produces an implantable drug-delivery pump.

In another sign of the convergence between medtech and biotech, MG
Biotherapeutics, a joint venture between device maker Medtronic and biotech firm
Genzyme, “could change the way heart disease is treated in coming years,”
reports Janet Moore in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The firm will work
first on cell therapies to repair damaged heart tissue and stimulate new blood
vessel growth. The therapy “is edging closer to commercial use, perhaps within
the next four to six years in the United States,” she writes.

As part of the joint venture, both companies will fund Genzyme’s European
300-patient Phase 2 clinical trial known as “Magic” (Myoblast Autologous Graft
in Ischemic Cardiomyopathy.) designed to test whether cell therapy can reverse
damage done to the cardiac muscle following a heart attack. Skeletal muscle or
myoblast cells will be obtained via biopsy in the patient’s leg before bypass
surgery. The cells will be grown in the lab and then injected by syringe into
the damaged area of the heart during a bypass operation. The therapy succeeded
in tests on rabbits in 1998.

If the phase 2 trial succeeds, MG Biotherapeutics may replace the syringe
injections with a catheter-based system to deliver cells to the heart using an
existing Medtronic product as part of the phase 3 trial. The catheter method
would be less invasive and perhaps avoid the need for a hospital stay.

The company expects cell therapy to complement rather than replace
Medtronic’s billion-dollar-a-year business in implantable defibrillators and
pacemakers and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), because, said an
executive, “Cell therapy . . . doesn’t really address the electrical issues in
heart failure, it focuses on the mechanics of heart failure.” Heart failure
afflicts about 22 million people worldwide.

Reference: Kerber, Ross (2004). “Strategic
fit: Boston Scientific pays $740m for microelectronic implant maker
.” Boston
Globe, June 2.

Reference: Moore, Janet (2004). “Medtronic pumps cash
into joint venture
.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 2.

Medical Devices Shrink

Medtronic’s SynchroMed II programmable pump for delivering chronic
pain drugs is 30 percent smaller and 20 percent lighter than previous models.
The pump can also help manage spasticity in cerebral palsy and multiple
sclerosis victims, as well as patients suffering stroke, brain, or spinal cord
injuries. The size reduction is significant, since the device is implanted in
the abdomen. The smaller size makes it more comfortable and more usable in
children.

The US$10,000-$12,000 pump delivers morphine directly to the fluid-filled
area surrounding the spinal cord to relieve pain, or Lioresal Intrathecal to
relax spastic muscles. The pump is filled via hypodermic needle by a doctor or
nurse, who can program the dosage actually delivered by the pump over time.

Reference: Moore, Janet (2004). “New drug pump for
pain
.” Star Tribune, June 28.

Cloak of Invisibility

The idea of an “invisibility cloak” that works by projecting video of what
lies behind an object onto the front of the object is not new, but a Japanese
inventor claims to have taken the idea a step further with a new material called
“retro-reflectum” that shows the image in 3-D.

Reference: Unknown (2004). “Inventor
plans ‘invisible walls
.'” BBC News, June 14.

Down-to-Earth GPS Navigation

Sony’s new XYZ car navigation system, currently available only in
Japan, is a removable, dashboard-mounted GPS system that can show the driver
street-level 3-D images in addition to the usual overhead map. It can be easily
updated with the latest street images via an Internet connection.

Reference: Terdiman, Daniel (2004). “Video-Game
Graphics Hit the Road
.” Wired News, June 15.

Self-powered Implants

A New York company is developing an implantable power chip that continuously
recharges implant batteries using electricity generated by the patient’s own
body heat, reducing the frequency of surgeries to replace batteries. A pacemaker
battery trickle-charged by the chip would last for 30 years — three times
longer than normal. It could also power some low power devices directly,
eliminating the need for batteries and repeat surgeries.

Biophan Technologies’ “biothermal battery” is an implantable chip with arrays
of thousands of thermoelectric generators. The generators exploit the
thermocouple effect, in which “a small voltage is generated when two of the
junctions between two dissimilar materials are kept at different temperatures,”
writes Graham Duncan-Rowe in New Scientist. A 2 �C temperature difference
would suffice to generate current, but “there are many parts of the body where a
temperature difference of as much as 5 �C is available – typically in the few
millimetres just below the skin,” — where Biophan plans to place the device.
Biophan plans to produce an array 2.5 centimeters square that generates 4 volts
and delivers a power of 100 microwatts. However, the engineering challenges are
formidable.

Reference: Graham-Rowe, Duncan (2004). “Power implant
aims to run on body heat
.” New Scientist, June 16.

Space Age Medicine: Medication via
Satellite

The awkwardly named “INRange Telepharmacy Fulfillment System,” a
satellite-controlled pill dispenser, beeps and flashes when activated by a timer
or from a remote control command from a doctor. When the patient responds by
pushing a button, the pill is dispensed. The dispenser would be useful for
patients at home, in school, in assisted-living centers, or even in jail, notes
the Associated Press.

Reference: Unknown (2004). “Prof.
Invents High Tech Pill Dispenser
.” Associated Press via Yahoo News, June 21.

 

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