Vascular Solutions makes new innovative medical devices for peripheral and coronary arteries. Net revenue for the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31 increased 15 percent compared to last year’s fourth quarter. Net revenue for the year was also up 15 percent to a record-setting $78.4 million.

Howard Root wants you to know that he’s not an angry man. Really.Yes, the CEO of Vascular Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: VASC) sued another company for product defamation (Vascular won $3.5 million), tangled with local reporters (not me, at least not yet), and threatened not to develop any new products with Minnesota doctors if the state [...]

Ernie Andberg has a little more free time on his hands these days.The long-time “emerging medical device companies” equity analyst for Feltl & Co. in Minneapolis has not seen a lot of companies emerging lately.In fact, they’ve been disappearing all together. Case in point: Medtronic Inc.’s (NYSE: MDT) deal last week to acquire ATS Medical [...]

Vascular Solutions Inc. (Nasdaq: VASC) has acquired for $5.75 million two vein-access technologies that are used in ultrasound procedures.The company expects the new products to begin paying immediate dividends and upped its full-year guidance by $2 million.The two products — Smartneedle and PDaccess – come from Wayne, Penn.-based Escalon Medical Corporation (Nasdaq: ESMC), according to [...]

To BIO or not to BIO? That’s the question confronting Minnesota as it ponders its economic future.In some ways, the answer is obvious. The state boasts a lot of expertise and money in medical technology. Lawmakers have already earmarked millions of dollars to build a “Biomedical Discovery District” in Minneapolis and an “Elk Run BioBusiness [...]

One big gripe about Minnesota’s medical device community is the lack of college graduates ready to hit the ground running.Speaking at a governor candidates forum last week, Vascular Solutions CEO Howard Root said finding enough workers, including quality engineers and regulatory specialists, is the “number one obstacle” facing his company. He took direct aim at [...]

It’s always a tough act to follow Howard Root, the sometimes volatile, always interesting CEO of Vascular Solutions Inc. But when you’re one of a gazillion candidates running for the governor of Minnesota, the challenge becomes even more daunting.Which makes me wonder why organizers of the first annual Minnesota BIO forum, including LifeScience Alley, Minnesota [...]

This is one of four devices Vascular Solutions expects to launch in the final months of 2009. It recently compared the revenue potential of the GuideLiner with that of the ProntoV3, one of the company’s “extraction” catheters that has accounted for roughly three-quarters of its $12.3 million in sales from that category so far this year.