Medtronic Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

PTAB upholds two Medtronic patents in spat with Axonics, could go to jury trial

Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) + announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office upheld claims around two of its patents in its battle with Axonics (Nasdaq:AXNX).

The office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) affirmed the validity of claims in two of Medtronic’s patents in the latest development in a long-running spat between the two companies. It means the PTAB has now upheld the validity of five of the company’s patents at issue in its lawsuit against Axonics.

Medtronic in November 2019 filed a lawsuit against Axonics alleging patent infringements over sacral neuromodulation (SNM) technologies. Since then, the battle has gone back and forth, with the medtech giant most recently asking the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to block the sales of certain Axonics devices.

Medtronic now wants to ask the federal court in the Central District of California to lift its stay on the lawsui…

Health Canada licenses Medtronic Symplicity Spyral renal denervation system

The Medtronic Symplicty Spyral RDN system expands inside the renal arteries. It then ablates nerves in the vessel wall to treat hypertension. [Illustration courtesy of Medtronic]Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) + announced today that it received a license from Health Canada for its Symplicity Spyral renal denervation (RDN) system.

The licensing covers the management of essential hypertension in patients for whomblood pressure remains uncontrolled despite lifestyle modifications and guideline-driven medical therapy with antihypertensive medications, or when guideline-driven therapy is poorly tolerated.

Approval in Canada comes about four months after the company’s landmark FDA approval for Symplicity Spyral in November 2023.

Symplicity Spyral delivers radiofrequency energy to nerves near kidneys in a minimally invasive procedure. These nerves can become overactive and contribute to high blood pressure.

After sedat…

Medtronic is raising the bar on outcomes with MiniMed 780G automated insulin delivery system

The MiniMed 780G with the Guardian 4 sensor. [Image courtesy of Medtronic]Not long ago, automated insulin delivery technology from Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) + ranked third in the market in terms of patient satisfaction.

That’s according to the Diabetes Patient Voice survey (DQ&A) — a third-party survey that evaluates U.S. diabetes patient satisfaction on a quarterly basis. However, the patient responses were for the previous-generation MiniMed 670G — before the company brought its next-generation MiniMed 780G system to the market.

The current iteration of MiniMed 780G uses the latest Guardian 4 technology and requires no fingersticks while in “SmartGuard” mode. It provides meal detection technology providing automatic adjustments and corrections to sugar levels every five minutes. This occurs for both basal (background) and bolus (mealtime) insulin needs.

MiniMed 780G with Guardian 4 offers insulin to account…

Avail Medsystems tech sold to robotics startup founded by former Auris leaders

The Avail Medsystems telepresence console beams video, audio and information to laptops and tablets. [Photo courtesy of Avail Medsystems]Medical robotics startup Mendaera has purchased the technology of Avail Medsystems and hired some of its employees, Mendaera co-founder and CEO Josh DeFonzo said in an exclusive interview.

The deal includes “substantially all” of Avail’s assets, said DeFonzo, who offered new details on his company’s objectives as it exits stealth mode.

He declined to disclose financial terms of the deal.

Avail shut down last year for lack of funding. DeFonzo said Mendaera will support customers that were using the existing Avail technology and consoles as its R&D group works on the product roadmap regarding console size and/or features in the coming quarters. However, Avail’s partnership with Medtronic is not part of the transaction, he said.

“We certainly would be happy to work with Medtronic…

The biggest diabetes tech news out of ATTD 2024

This is a screenshot from a video demonstrating the features of the new Roche Accu-Chek SmartGuide CGM at ATTD 2024.

Every year, the diabetes community comes together for the International Conference on Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD).

In the 17th installment at the start of this month, some of the biggest names shared new studies and technologies set to advance the diabetes space. Dexcom, Abbott, Medtronic and more contributed on their end, while some new technologies are coming to the fore as well.

Here are the biggest stories from this year’s ATTD conference in Florence, Italy. (You can also check out the biggest news out of ATTD in 2023 and 2022.)

Dexcom’s direct-to-watch feature

Dexcom announced at ATTD that it introduced a direct-to-Apple-Watch feature for its G7 continuous glucose monitor (CGM) users.

The company plans a phased launch for all G7 iOS users everywhere by the end of the second quarter of …

Medtronic’s Respiratory Interventions unit president is leaving

Outgoing Medtronic Respiratory Interventions President Ariel Mactavish. [Image from Ariel Mactavish on LinkedIn]Ariel Mactavish, president of the Respiratory Interventions unit at Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) + , announced that she is departing her post at the medtech giant.

In a post on LinkedIn, Mactavish explained her decision to depart:

“After 12 rewarding years, I have decided to leave Medtronic and I want to take the opportunity [to] share my deepest gratitude for the amazing work of our team and their unwavering commitment to our patients and customers over the last several years together,” she wrote.

Mactavish’s departure comes shortly after Medtronic announced major changes within her unit. The company said last month that it plans to exit the ventilator market.

That decision came more than a year after Medtronic said it would spin off its Patient Monitoring and Respiratory Interventions b…

Medtronic has positive Evolut TAVR data

The CoreValve Evolut TAVR implant. [Image courtesy of Medtronic]Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) + today reported two different datasets that support its Evolut transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) system.

A cost-effectiveness analysis demonstrated the positive economic value of TAVR using Evolut in low-risk patients. It compared Evolut to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). Then, Medtronic had contemporary data from its Evolut low-risk trial reinforcing long-term TAVR outcomes compared to SAVR.

Medtronic presented data at the Cardiovascular Research Technologies (CRT) 2024 Conference. The data follows Medtronic’s TCT presentation highlighting the success of TAVR when pitted against SAVR last October.

“At Medtronic, we continue to emphasize that valve design matters. These data further exemplify Medtronic’s dedication to providing differentiated treatment options like the Evolut …

Medtronic highlights global performance of MiniMed 780G automated insulin delivery system

The MiniMed 780G with the Guardian 4 sensor. [Image courtesy of Medtronic]Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) + shared new clinical and real-world evidence backing the use of its MiniMed 780G system around the world.

Data shared at ATTD 2024 in Florence, Italy, included the largest set of data from early users in the U.S. Results built upon three-year data from more than 100,000 real-world users who outperformed international time in range targets.

Medtronic’s MiniMed 780G, its latest-generation automated insulin delivery system, won FDA approval in April 2023. The current iteration uses the latest Guardian 4 technology and requires no fingersticks while in “SmartGuard” mode. It provides meal detection technology providing automatic adjustments and corrections to sugar levels every five minutes. This occurs for both basal (background) and bolus (mealtime) insulin needs.

MiniMed 780G with Guardian 4 offers insul…

Medtronic launches intelligent data collection tech for spine surgery

Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) + announced that it launched its UNiD ePRO service in the U.S. to provide electronic patient-reported outcomes (PROs) to spine surgeons.

The medtech giant believes its service, created through a partnership with OBERD, could change patient outcome collection. With OBERD, a practice intelligence data collection company, Medtronic hopes to reduce the burden on clinical staff and patients.

UNiD ePRO integrates with a customer’s existing electronic medical record (EMR) system in the hospital and the UNiD ASI platform. OBERD’s platform offers improved data collection methods, both pre-operatively and post-operatively. Medtronic said in a news release that it demonstrated 40%-60% increased patient response rates on average.

The platform helps to save time and increase PRO compliance without any additional burden on the staff. It provides actionable insights, too, benchmarking individu…

How syncing wearables with AI chatbots can accelerate recovery time

Smart integration of AI chatbots and data collected by wearable devices can help patients and health care providers respond to early signs of illness.

By Nate MacLeitch, QuickBlox

[Illustration by Kudryavtsev via Stock.Adobe.com]

More effective public health and medical interventions could save 1.2 million lives per year, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

But the healthcare industry isn’t solely responsible. There is usually a gap between identifying an illness and seeking medical attention. Even when a patient feels unwell, they often don’t know the best path of care and may avoid medical support because they minimize their symptoms, lack physical access to local healthcare, worry about healthcare costs, or simply don’t have a doctor.

Wearable medical devices can bridge this gap by monitoring vital signs — often remotely — to determine irregular behavi…

Medtronic has a serious catheter tubing recall

Medtronic Duet EMDS catheters disconnected from luer connectors. [Images courtesy of the FDA]The FDA today designated a Medtronic recall of Duet external drainage and monitoring system catheter tubing as Class I, its most serious level.

Medtronic Neurosurgery initiated the recall on Jan. 22. It involves 45,176 of the devices. The model numbers involved are 46913, 46914, 46915, 46916, and 46917, according to the FDA.

The Duet external drainage and monitoring system provides temporary drainage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or CSF sampling in people who have surgery for descending thoracic aortic aneurysm or descending thoraco-abdominal aortic aneurysm. It’s also for people who have had these types of surgeries and develop symptoms like paraplegia.

Medtronic is recalling the Duet EDMS catheter tubing due to a potential for catheter disconnection from the patient line stopcock connectors. According to the FDA notice, disconnection could result in infection…

Medtronic wins FDA clearance for bone tumor ablation tech

Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) + announced today that it received FDA 510(k) clearance for its OsteoCool 2.0 bone tumor ablation system.

The medtech giant designed OsteoCool 2.0 to treat painful bone metastases and benign bone tumors like osteoid osteoma. The minimally invasive procedure uses probes to deliver radiofrequency energy that heats and destroys tumors. Meanwhile, it circulates water to cool the probes in close proximity to the active tip to avoid excess heating.

With an upgraded design, the OsteoCool radiofrequency ablation system offers a number of new advantages over the previous generation. Medtronic’s system enables the simultaneous use of four internally-cooled probes. This allows physicians to ablate two vertebral bodies at once, or create larger ablation zones in extra-spinal applications.

According to a news release, it’s the most powerful bone tumor ablation system on the market, deliverin…