Many of you are probably familiar by now with the saga involving Indianapolis-based Guidant Corp.’s defective heart devices. But the public is about to get a whole lot more familiar with it. Some of the company’s internal documents have been made public, and they seem to show that Guidant executives may have been more familiar with the problems than they had let on. This morning’s New York Times unveils documents, obtained from a product liability lawsuit, indicating that Guidant executives may have put the firm’s public image ahead of the public health. While intended only to expose one company, what sort of fallout might this publicity have for the device industry as a whole?
Amid the recent spate of bad press, it’s good to see that not all of the coverage is negative. An AP story in major newspapers today focuses on the advances being made in neuromodulation devices. It’s a story about the struggles of Don Falk, a patient who suffered from uncontrollable tremors caused by advanced Parkinson’s disease—that is, until he had deep brain stimulator implanted. But, it’s also the story of the struggles of Medtronic, Cyberonics, ANS, and the other device companies that must convince the medical community to see neurostimulation as a viable alternative to drug therapy.The article appears in today’s Boston Globe and Philadelphia Inquirer. It’s a breath of fresh air, and it reminds us just how hard the industry is working to improve people’s lives.
On behalf of the editors of MD&DI, we would like to welcome you to our new blog, DeviceTalk. This is a blog devoted to the hot topics in the medical device industry. We will keep you informed of — and give you links to — breaking industry news. We will offer opinion and commentary on the crucial topics of the day. And, through the comment feature, we hope to provide you with a forum for feedback and discussion. (Venting is OK, personal attacks are not.) We hope you will stop by often to see what’s new in the world of devices.
Erik Swain and Sherrie Conroy, Editors-in-Chief, MD&DI
