Medtech in a Minute: Abbott Drops a Huge Announcement at CES, and More

Abbott CEO Drops Big News at CES

During his historic keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week, Abbott CEO Robert Ford unveiled a new product category that the company is developing: biowearables dubbed Lingo. Similar to the company's FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitoring device for diabetes management, the Lingo products will enable consumers to track key biomarkers in the body such as glucose, ketones, lactate, and alcohol levels.

Stryker to Pony up $3.09B for Vocera

Stryker has agreed to buy Vocera Communications for $3.09 billion, the company's largest deal since the Wright Medical acquisition. Vocera has a portfolio comprised of multiple products including clinical communication, secure text messaging, alarms & notifications, patient experience, and analytics tools. Stryker says the acquisition will be a "step change" that will propel the company to the "next level" in its focus on digital technology.

Sensonics Looks for FDA Decision in the Coming Weeks

One of the 10 most anticipated new medical devices of 2021was the next generation Eversense 180-day continuous glucose monitoring system from Senseonics. Unfortunately, COVID-related backlogs at FDA delayed the potential approval, but the company says a decision is now expected in the coming weeks.

And in case you missed our last Medtech in a Minute report...

FDA Slaps Medtronic with Warning Letter

Medtronic said it received a warning letter from FDA earlier this month after an inspection that concluded in July related to a recall of the company's MiniMed 600 series insulin infusion pump, and a remote controller device for MiniMed 508 and Paradigm pumps. The warning letter focuses on the inadequacy of specific medical device quality system requirements at the company's Northridge, CA facility in the areas of risk assessment, corrective and preventive action, complaint handling, device recalls, and reporting of adverse events.

New Medtech Accelerator to Launch in 2022

Proxima Clinical Research, a contract research organization based at the Texas Medical Center, plans to launch its own accelerator program early in the new year. Dubbed M1 MedTech, the accelerator will take on a limited number of companies in each cohort and offer a hands-on approach to helping founders advance their companies and technologies. For now, M1 MedTech will function as an accelerator focused on more involved Class II and III medical devices. As the program continues to grow, the team plans to build out an even more extensive incubator focused solely on Class III medical devices.