Medical Battery Maker Acquires Filter Technology

Medical Battery Maker Acquires Filter Technology

Through an acquisition agreement, a medical battery maker has gained the capability to include electromagnetic interference (EMI) filters on its components. Wilson Greatbatch Technologies (Clarence, NY; www.greatbatch.com) has purchased Maxwell Technologies, Sierra div. (Carson City, NV; www.maxwell.com), enabling it to develop EMI filters in-house that can help prevent pacemakers and other implantables from being adversely affected by cellular telephones, pagers, or other electronic devices. Sierra's technology will primarily be used by the Greatbatch-Hittman division, which makes feedthroughs used on pacemakers, implantable defibrillators, and other medical devices. Sierra will be renamed Greatbatch-Sierra. The acquisition will "allow us to offer a more complete line of engineered products," says Wilson Greatbatch president and CEO Edward F. Voboril. "While less than 25% of implantable medical devices have EMI protection today, we believe that the majority of such devices will have this feature over time," he adds.

Katherine Sweeny