I have to admit that MetroWest Medical Center’s text messaging service is pretty slick. I texted them last night at 11:48 p.m. and within seconds received a text message with average emergency room wait times at its two hospitals. Framingham Union was 12 minutes and Leonard Morse Natick was five minutes.
Continue reading ‘Is ER Text Messaging Service just a Marketing Ploy?’
Surgeons tweeted updates during a recent double hand transplant at Jewish Hospital Hand Care Center in Louisville. While the operation would be only the third double hand transplant in the U.S., it’s probably the first accompanied by live tweeting.
Continue reading ‘Surgeons use Twitter during Double-Hand Transplant’
A leaky product development pipeline is hampering the country’s ability to ensure a steady output of new medical countermeasures, such as medications, vaccines, equipment and supplies needed for health emergencies, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said.
Continue reading ‘Feds Aim to Fortify Biodefense by Fixing Product Development Pipeline’
When his phone battery ran low, instead of dialing 911 and possibly languishing on hold, Atlanta Councilman Kwanza Hall tweeted, “Need a paramedic on corner of John Wesley Dobbs and Jackson St. Woman on the ground unconscious. Pls ReTweet,” according to WSBTV. Within moments, Twitter followers retweeted his message and several called 911. Paramedics were able to rush the woman to the hospital.
Continue reading ‘Web users see Twitter, Facebook as 911 backup’
In a bid to break out of its dependence on manufacturing and cheap labor, the Chinese government is planning to invest $1.5 billion into new drug development between 2011 and 2016. And biotechnology is one of seven emerging industries that the Asian powerhouse will use to spearhead the next big step in its economic development, according to a report in China’s 21st Century Business Herald.
With Genzyme in the news, we’ve all been hearing plenty about the wave of M&A deals that’s been rolling through the world’s life sciences industry. Last year, Thomson Reuters tracked more than 1,400 such deals worth $206 billion worldwide, giving the Boston Globe the hard numbers it needs to assert that this is one trend that has yet to crest.
Continue reading ‘Biotech M&A Frenzy Shows no Sign of Slowing’
The explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed 11 and set off one of the worst environmental disasters in history is an extreme case, but workers on even the safest offshore rigs are susceptible to injuries and high rates of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, Editor Neil Versel writes. Oil companies routinely have stationed nurses and paramedics on rigs to treat minor ailments aboard rigs, but with rigs now outfitted with Internet and satellite connections, more and more operators are turning to telemedicine and remote monitoring and diagnostic tools to help care for offshore workers and save money. An article in the July-August issue of the journal Telemedicine and e-Health looks at this trend.
Continue reading ‘Remote Monitoring Aid Patients on Offshore Oil Rigs’
Think Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) has had enough of buyouts for awhile, now that it’s partially digested the $68 billion Wyeth acquisition? Think again. CFO Frank D’Amelio told the German newspaper Handelsblatt that the company is scouting for potential buys in several specific areas, including emerging markets.
The journal NanoLetters recently published an article highlighting the fascinating nanogenerators developed by Dr. Yong Shi, a professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stevens Institute of Technology. Dr. Shi’s work focuses on miniature energy harvesting technologies that could potentially power wireless electronics, portable devices, stretchable electronics, and implantable biosensors. The concept involves piezoelectric nanowire- and nanofiber-based generators that would power such devices through a conversion of mechanical energy into electrical energy. Dr. Shi uses a piezoelectric nanogenerator based on PZT nanofibers. The PZT nanofibers, with a diameter and length of approximately 60 nm and 500 ìm, are aligned on interdigitated electrodes of platinum fine wires and packaged using a soft polymer on a silicon substrate. The measured output voltage and power under periodic stress application to the soft polymer was 1.63 V and 0.03 MicroWatts, respectively.
Continue reading ‘Biomedical Devices Powered by Miniature Energy Harvesting Technology’
Milestone payments are becoming an increasingly familiar aspect of many biotech deals, as buyers try to mitigate the risks inherent with big purchases. Take Celgene’s $2.9 billion buyout of Abraxis; the biotech giant set aside $650 million in milestone payments if Abraxis’ key drug Abraxane hit certain goals. “These structures are a great way for buyer and seller to share the risk that’s related to drug development,” says analyst Brett Skolnik. Milestones also encourage buyer and seller to look beyond the merger, making it more likely the deal will be beneficial to both sides in the long term.
Continue reading ‘Milestones Mitigate Risk in Biotech Deals’
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