Chaos at the Capitol Prompts Medtech Leaders to Speak up

Shortly after violence broke out the National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons put out a statement condemning the violence and calling for Vice President Pence to enact 25th Amendment. "This is not the vision of America that manufacturers believe in and work so hard to defend. Across America today, millions of manufacturing workers are helping our nation fight the deadly pandemic that has already taken hundreds of thousands of lives. We are trying to rebuild an economy and save and rebuild lives, Timmons said. "But none of that will matter if our leaders refuse to fend off this attack on America and our democracy — because our very system of government, which underpins our very way of life, will crumble.” CEOs at Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson, and AdvaMed also spoke out about last week's attack.

Medtech Kicks off the New Year on the M&A Trail

Only five days into the new year and two months after closing a colossal deal in orthopedics, Stryker is back on the prowl for more M&A. The Kalamazoo, MI-based company said Tuesday it has acquired OrthoSensor, a specialist in the digital evolution of musculoskeletal care and sensor technology for total joint replacement. Hologic also announced last week that it has acquired Somatex Medical Technologies for $64 million in a move to expand its breast health solutions.

New COVID-19 Testing Challenges

FDA is now warning that emerging viral mutations of SARS-CoV-2 could impact results of authorized COVID-19 molecular tests. False negative results can occur with any molecular test for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 if a mutation occurs in the part of the virus' genome assessed by that test, FDA said. The virus can mutate over time, like all viruses, resulting in a genetic variation in the population of circulating viral strains, as seen with the emerging variant from the United Kingdom known as the B.1.1.7 variant. The recently identified B.1.1.7 variant has been associated with an increased risk of transmission, therefore early identification of this variant in patients may help reduce further spread of infection.