MassDevice.com +5 | The top 5 medtech stories for October 24, 2016

Say hello to MassDevice +5, a bite-sized view of the top five medtech stories of the day. This feature of MassDevice.com’s coverage highlights our 5 biggest and most influential stories from the day’s news to make sure you’re up to date on the headlines that continue to shape the medical device industry.

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5. Outside firm backs up short-seller’s claims against St. Jude Medical

Short-selling firm Muddy Waters said today that outside cybersecurity experts validated its claim that cardiac rhythm management devices made by St. Jude Medical are vulnerable to malicious hackers.

Muddy Waters and research firm MedSec Holdings, which both stand to gain financially from a decline in the price of STJ shares, 1st claimed in August that St. Jude’s Merlin@home remote patient monitoring system was vulnerable to hacking. Although St. Jude immediately denied the claims as completely false, its share price initially slid some -5% and is still off about -3% from its August 24 close; STJ shares were trading at $79.30 apiece today in mid-day activity, down -0.1%. Last week, in a release timed to coincide with St. Jude’s 3rd-quarter results announcement, the short seller posted a series of videos purporting to show cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the company’s cardiac rhythm management products. Read more

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4. Philips soars on Q3 profit surge

Third-quarter profits surged more than 18% for Royal Philips, sending its share price to a 19-month high as the Dutch conglomerate continues its shift toward healthcare.

Philips posted profits of €383 million ($417.3 million) on sales of €5.90 billion ($6.43 billion), for a bottom-line gain of 18.2% on sales growth of 1.1%, compared with Q3 2015. Read more

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3. Wright Medical closes $32m large joints sale to Corin Orthopaedics

Wright Medical said today that it closed the $32.3 million sale of its large joints business to Corin Orthopaedics Holdings last week, for net proceeds of about $20 million.

The €29.7 million transaction involves legacy Tornier hip and knee implants acquired when Wright and Tornier merged in a $3.3 billion deal in October 2015. Read more

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2. Merit Medical reveals U.S. Justice Dept. subpoena

Merit Medical said last week that the U.S. Justice Dept. issued a subpoena seeking information on its marketing practices.

The Oct. 19 subpoena seeks “documents and other information regarding certain marketing and promotional practices relating to the company’s products,” the South Jordan, Utah-based medical device company said. Read more

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1. Alere shareholders OK $6m Abbott buyout

Alere said today that its shareholders voted to approve its nearly $6 billion merger with Abbott, despite its onetime suitor’s seeming reluctance to consummate the deal.

Abbott agreed in February to spend $56 per share for Alere, or a total of $5.8 billion, but the deal soon turned rocky when the Waltham, Mass.-based diagnostics company failed to file its annual financial statements on time and disclosed U.S. government probes into its billing and foreign sales practices. By August Alere had filed a lawsuit accusing Abbott of dragging its feet on key antitrust submissions to sabotage the deal; an attempt at mediation failed last month. Read more

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