…we ask ourselves whether the small emerging med-tech company can achieve success (and funding) with a ’tons cheaper’ value proposition. In theory, any company starting fresh with design and manufacturing should be able to take advantage of Moore’s law in a way that the big guys with vast installed bases and capital investments can’t. The opportunity for success is there, but not every company or technology is cut out to win at price-cutting.

On Wednesday, I forwarded the argument of an analyst that Medtronic’s (NYSE:MDT) controversial bone graft product Infuse will likely live on in a diminished form, even if an independent review confirms its safety.So the obvious question is, who will fill the void left by Infuse?

Medtronic’s controversial bone growth product Infuse has been hammered by quarter after quarter of declining sales.Currently, Yale reviewers are conducting an independent review of the data related to Infuse. The review’s conclusions are eagerly awaited by Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak who hopes that Infuse will be vindicated once and for all therebysilencing those who have [...]

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) announced Monday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new high-voltage connector system for use with its implantable cardioverter and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillatorsthat correct abnormal heart rhythm.The new DF4 connector system boasts fewer connection points between the device and the defibrillation leads. It has a single set-screw to connect the [...]

Medtronic(NYSE:MDT) announced Friday that it will begin to sell minimally invasive cardiac surgery instruments as part of a distribution agreement with a design company based in Florida.Miami Instruments designs surgical instruments for minimally invasive cardiac procedures, and Medtronic said that it is launching two of Miami Instruments’ products in the U.S. Terms of the distribution [...]

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) has lost a court battle over its drug-coated stent patents after a New Jersey federal judge ruled that stents marketed by Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) and Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) had not infringed stent patents held by the New Brunswick, New Jersey company.Despite the ruling, a Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman said [...]

Medtronic (NYSE: MDT), the maker of new innovative medical devices, announced Tuesday the European approval and international launch of its new stent graft system.The Endurant II AAA stent graft system is designed to provide greater options to physicians in repairing abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA).An abdominal aorticaneurysm occurswhen the large blood vessel that supplies blood [...]

SCROLL BELOW FOR UPDATE:At the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco on Monday, Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak once again laid out his three-pronged effort to rejuvenate medical device maker Medtronic (NYSE:MDT): improving execution, optimizing medical device innovation and quickly expanding its global footprint.Of the three, the biggest challenge will be in optimizing innovation because [...]

Finding and maintaining an edge in medical device innovation is the holy grail of companies like Medtronic (NYSE:MDT).In late November, Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak had this tantalizing tweet about that topic:Returned from exciting trip to#Israel. Amazing entrepreneurial spirit and energy. Could be next innovation incubator for#Medtronic.var page_count = “off”; [...]

A New Jersey serial entrepreneur is throwing his hat into the hypertension treatment ring with a catheter to reduce high blood pressure that would rival Medtronic’s (NYSE:MDT) Symplicity Catheter System acquired by the Minnesota medical device giant last year.The company, led by David Fischell and his brother, Tim, called Ablative Solutions Inc., has raised a [...]