An article in DOTmedNews reports that GOP freshmen are aligning with industry to oppose a 2.3 percent excise tax on the medical device industry set to go into effect January 2013. Industry says it will hurt profits and drive jobs and innovation oversees. As the deadline gets closer, the opposition is growing louder. Monday, February
[continue reading...]
Improve the safety of medical devices An overview of Consumers Union’s Safe Patient Project Initiative Medical devices, like eyeglasses and contact lenses, are a part of our everyday lives and are a growing part of the health care we receive. Complex devices like artificial hip joints, surgical mesh, and cardiovascular stents, are permanently implanted
[continue reading...]
February 9, 2012 ~ “Whistleblowers point out fraud, waste and abuse when no one else will, and while they do so while risking their professional careers, they are often treated like skunks at a picnic,” Grassley wrote. “Whistleblowers have played a critical role in exposing harmful government actions and retaliation against whistleblowers should never be
[continue reading...]
February 7, 2012 ~ Breaking News! Within the hour the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) ruled that three pending and separate MDL actions against three synthetic mesh manufacturers should be heard in the Southern District of West Virginia. The MDL claim 2187 is being heard by Chief Judge Joseph R. Goodwin in the Southern
[continue reading...]
February 6, 2012 ~ James Fico had a problem. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune (here) reports on the North Port man’s basketball-size hernia that protruded from his belly for more than five years. (Caution- the photos in this article are not for the weak of heart). Unfortunately for Fico, 62, he had had a major heart attack
[continue reading...]
February 6, 2012 ~ Consumers Union is bringing eight patient activists to Washington, D.C. to meet with lawmakers and press for strengthened medical device oversight. The timing is important. The Food and Drug Administration’s budget will be determined by the Medical Device User Fee Act (MDUFA) and the medical device industry is pushing for faster
[continue reading...]
Medical device maker, Smith & Nephew has been in the news lately as one of the manufacturers of metal-on-metal artificial hips. Now AP (here) reports the London-based company has agreed to pay $22.2 million to settle claims that its U.S. and German subsidiaries bribed public doctors in Greece for more than a decade to increase the
[continue reading...]
Sheri Ragan is playing the waiting game – waiting for a hospital in Ormond Beach, Florida to decide when and if it will take Medicaid so she can have an infected biologic mesh implant removed by the doctor of her choice. At 42, Ragan still doesn’t know how she ended up with six years of
[continue reading...]
February 1, 2012 ~ Bloomberg reports on a bill introduced this week that would put the brakes on the approval of a medical device that claims to be similar to another approved device that’s been recalled or found to be defective. The bill was introduced by Democratic lawmakers including Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) on
[continue reading...]
Medical device makers want to get their products into the marketplace faster. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) needs more operating capital to review medical devices. The two have formed an informal agreement that was leaked to Bloomberg on Wednesday, February 1 (here). Under the proposed plan, medical device makers would pay $595 million
[continue reading...]
