Top Device Companies

Hansen, Luna Settle Breach-Of-Contract To Work Together Again

Hansen Medical and Luna Innovations have agreed to settle their legal dispute, allowing Luna to take steps to emerge from bankruptcy. The bankruptcy action occurred after a jury awarded Hansen $36 million for breach of contract and misuse of Hansen trade secrets. With the settlement, the two companies are to agree to joint development and marketing of Luna’s technology used in Hansen’s medical robotic instruments. The deal also has Luna paying $5 million over four years and other financial arrangements. (Click here for more)

“Luna, Hansen To Settle Lawsuit; Shares Soar” – Reuters (12/11/09)

Hot Off the Presses: Medical Device Market 2009: Interventional Cardiology - This 86-page Special Report from IN VIVO identifies the most important trends in cardiology devices in recent years, teases out the critical decisions that drove those developments, and takes you behind the scenes and into the minds of the architects of these new technologies and business strategies. Find out more...

Hansen Wins Suit Against Luna For Sharing Secrets With Intuitive

Hansen Medical has won a court suit against Luna Innovations for breach of contract and sharing trade secrets. A California jury awarded Hansen Medical $36.3 million in damages, close to the $50 million amount that Luna had said would put the Roanoke, Va.-based company out of business. The dispute involved a 2006 agreement Hansen and Luna made to cooperate in using Luna’s fiber-optic technology for sensing shapes in Hansen’s catheters. The jury found that Luna later shared Hansen trade secrets with Intuitive Surgical in a separate deal involving an Intuitive robotic device. (Click here for more)

“Luna Innovations Hit With $36.3 Million Jury Verdict” – Roanoke Times (4/22/09)

Get the week's top medical device news sent directly to you. Sign up for the FREE once-a-week email newsletter from Top Device Companies.com

Hologic, Hansen, Other Device Makers Share Recession With Small Ones

Hologic, Hansen Medical and other larger makers of medical devices have company in reduced sales due to the current recession, but small companies are feeling the pinch even more. Some of the small innovative firms, such as OmniSonics Medical Technologies and InfraReDx have had to cancel trials, stop production or lay off workers as they run out of funds to continue operating. Unlike some of their larger competitors, the smaller companies can face some tough choices on which products to focus on. (Click here for more)

“Small Medical Companies, A Font Of Innovation, Are Feeling Recession’s Pinch” – New York Times (4/2/09)

Get the week's top medical device news sent directly to you. Sign up for the FREE once-a-week email newsletter from Top Device Companies.com

Hansen Suit Againt Luna Begins In California Superior Court

Hansen Medical’s suit against Luna Innovations has reached the judiciating stage, with the trial expected to last three weeks in a California court. Hansen accused Luna of stealing its technological breakthroughs. Hansen and Luna attempted to reach an out-of-court settlement last year, but the effort failed and the 2007 Hansen suit remained alive. At issue is the breakdown of a joint operation between the firms to apply Luna’s shape-sensing technology to Hansen’s catheters. (Click here for more)

“Luna and Calif. Company Battle In Court” – Roanoke Times (3/24/09)

Get the week's top medical device news sent directly to you. Sign up for the FREE once-a-week email newsletter from Top Device Companies.com

Heart Valve Market: PAVR Poised for Growth

Article preview from Medtech Insight - January 2009

Much like the early days of coronary stenting, percutaneous aortic valve replacement has captured the imagination of physicians and industry alike. Although many challenges remain, most physicians in the heart valve community appear optimistic that transcatheter aortic valve technologies will eventually achieve a prominent place in the treatment armamentarium, a development that would put these devices on track to achieve over $1 billion in sales within the next five years.

Royal Philips, Hansen Join To Enhance Arrhythmia Diagnoses

Royal Philips Electronics and Hansen Medical have agreed to collaborate combining two of their devices for diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmia. The agreement involves Royal Philips’s Allura Xper X-Ray system with Hansen’s Sensei Robotic Catheter system to assess irregular heart beats. By combining the two devices, the images produced by the Royal Philips machine may be viewed by a physician as a three-dimensional picture. (Click here for more)

“X-Ray, Catheter Technology Simplify Med Care For Irregular Heart Beats” – TMCnet (2/3/09)

Get the week's top medical device news sent directly to you. Sign up for the FREE once-a-week email newsletter from Top Device Companies.com