Medtech in a Minute: Bankruptcy, Layoffs, and Asset Sales, Oh My!

Surgalign Goes Bankrupt

Surgalign's financial struggles have come to a head. The surgical device and biologics company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, through which it plans to hold an auction and sell off all its assets. The move comes just a few months after the company reduced its workforce by about 20%.

Plummeting COVID-19 Test Sales Trigger Layoffs

Biocartis is the latest to announce layoffs after suffering declining sales of COVID-19 tests. The company is slashing its global workforce by 25%, or 140 positions. As part of the reorganization, Piet Houwen, the company's chief operating officer, will resign effective September 1.

BD Sells Surgical Instruments and Related Assets to Steris

BD has agreed to sell its surgical instruments to Steris for $540 million. The sale includes V. Mueller and Snowden-Pencer laparoscopic instruments, and Genesis sterilization containers, as well as three manufacturing facilities in St. Louis, MO; Cleveland, OH; and Tuttlingen, Germany. Roughly 360 employees who support the platform will transfer to Steris when the deal closes.

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

Philips Can't Catch a Break

Philips is dealing with yet another Class I recall. The company is instructing Trilogy Evo ventilator users to change filters more frequently to prevent device malfunction. Of note, use of the filter was previously seen as optional by the company. Philips initially notified FDA in April of a potential issue with the ventilator family where extended environmental contamination exposure could affect the devices air path.

Surmodics Takes Another Swing at FDA Approval

Surmodics struck out on its first attempt to win FDA approval for the highly-anticipated SurVeil drug-coated balloon when the company received a letter from the agency that its premarket approval (PMA) application for the device was not approvable. The Eden Prairie, MN-based company submitted an amended PMA application in May, however, and this second swing just might be the home run investors have been hoping for.

Layoff Reaper Strikes Siemens Healthineers

Siemens Healthineers laid off 67 employees at a diagnostics facility in Flanders, NJ that will go into effect on Sept. 7. The facility, which supports 800 employees, is reportedly shutting down its Atellica Solution Immunoassay module manufacturing as it consolidates it to its Swords site in Dublin, Ireland.