A Canadian expert on dental materials denounced Norway’s new dental mercury regulations as a bad example for other nations.
Derek Jones, a professor emeritus of biomaterials at Dalhousie University in Halifax and chairman of the International Standards Organization’s Technical Committee on Dentistry, says the regulations affect the use of dental amalgam — a composite of mercury and metals such as silver.
In an editorial, published in the Journal of Dental Research, Jones says there is no conclusive evidence to support claims of neurological disorders or impaired kidney function linked to the mercury used in dentistry.
“For the past 20 years, the public has been bombarded by sensational, confusing, and misleading media reports about health issues related to dental amalgam,” Jones says in a statement.
“It is important that governments adhere to scientific principles and base health and environmental policies on sound scientific knowledge. Dentistry is an applied science and needs to bring issues such those dealing with dental amalgam to the attention of governments.”
Such advice might need to be considered in the United States as well, as FDA faces a DC federal court suit against using mercury amalgam. Read more about this, and its affect on medical devices in Washington Wrap-Up in the March issue of MD&DI.
Private equity investor Warburg Pincus has acquired Lifecore Biomedical, a Chaska-based medical technology company, in a deal valued at approximately $239 million, according to the Pioneer Press. Pincus, which also has invested in several medical device firms including Minnetonka-based American Medical Systems, Eden Prairie-based Tornier and Plymouth based Ev3, will pay $17 per share for the company. That represents a premium of about 30% over the volume weighted average price of Lifecore Biomedical shares for the past 30 days.
Lifecore Biomedical develops, manufactures and markets biomaterials and medical devices for use in various surgical markets.
Separately, the company reported this morning second quarter earnings of $1.2 million, or 9 cents per share, on revenue of $17.3 million. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had been expecting earnings of 11 cents per share during the quarter.
Sales of products in the dental division fell short of growth expectations for the quarter, the company said.
The Minnesota Public Radio program, Midmorning, recently feature a story on growing a tissue heart that beats outside the body. Interviewees for the feature included Doris Taylor, lead researcher on the team that created the first beating heart outside of the body. She is also director of the center for cardiovascular repair at the University of Minnesota. It also included Buddy Ratner, professor of bioengineering and director of engineered biomaterials at the University of Washington and Robert Nerem, director of Georgia Tech/Emory Center for Regenerative Medicine. Click here to listen to the broadcast.
Nanotech’s 11th annual edition will take place in Boston, MA, colocating at the Hynes Convention Center with the CTSI Clean Technology and Sustainable Industries Conference & Tradeshow, the TechConnect Business Summit and Bio Nano 2008.
The association is calling for abstracts, IP and Venture, to be submitted by February 1. Visit NIST’s Nanotech 2008, to obtain more information.
A report on medical applications of textiles the has just been released by Research and Markets.com. The report discusses the general uses and upcoming trends of sutures, bandages, plaster casts, and incontinence products. It also covers new uses of textiles such as bioglass fibers, and textile-based stents. Companies mentioned in the report include the following:
- Alcare
- Area Laboratories
- Astra Tech
- Battelle Memorial Institute
- Bioretec
- Biotronik
- BSN Medical
- CC Technology Investment
- Comvita
- ConvaTec
- Ethicon
- Foss Manufacturing Company
- Honeywell International
- Imedex Biomatériaux
- Nycomed Pharma
- Ossur
- Oxford Biomaterials
- Perlei Medical
- Poly-Med
- Quick-Med Technologies
- Rhodianyl in France
- Scimed Life Systems
- Tufts University
- Tyco Healthcare
- University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)
- Vascutek
From NewScientist.com:
The California Institute of Technology has filed a patent on an implantable lens that can switch its strength. Made of a light-sensitive polymer, it changes its molecular structure in response to UV light of a particular frequency. This gives people who have a lens replaced during cataract surgery two strengths to choose from, allowing them to opt for the one that lets them see more clearly.
