DeviceTalks Podcast Network

In this week’s podcast, we talk with Holly Logue, general counsel at Drawbridge Health, about the OneDraw, an innovative new tool that might upend the collecting, storage and testing of blood. Logue, a panelist in the upcoming DeviceTalks Tuesdays sponsored by Finnegan, will explain how her past work on Capitol Hill is helping this Silicon Valley company’s plans.

Meanwhile, we speak with Daveen Chopra, corporate vice president of surgical structural heart at Edwards Lifesciences, about that company’s commitment to treating the most serious cardiac patients. The company recently won FDA approval for its Konect Resilia aortic valve conduit, a vital new tool in helping heart patients, including many requiring emergency story.

Co-costs Tom Salemi, editorial director of DeviceTalks, and Chris Newmarker, executive editor of life sciences at MassDevice, review the five biggest news stories of the week. We'll talk about Abbott, Becton Dickinson, Boston Scientific, Edwards Lifesciences, and Theranos. Number one may surprise you.

For years, medtech companies have known connectivity was good for them, but the promise of data streaming through devices didn't match the reality. COVID-19 changed that, creating an opportunity for device companies with connectivity plans in place.

In this episode, we speak with Dr. David Hayes, CMO of Biotronik, about that companies success in connecting cardiology patients. Meanwhile, Bill Betten of S3 Connected Health explains what device companies must do to prepare for medtech's next age.

We also review the week's top news involving Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, Abbott, Edwards, and Smith+Nephew

DeviceTalks Weekly: Ep. 17 –

In this week’s episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, we follow up with Nadim Yared, CEO of CVRx, the guest of last week’s episode, to catch up on how the medtech executives is managing during the pandemic.

Yared also shares some far-reaching views on what the medtech industry needs to work toward to improve diversity in its workforce and provide equality for society.

We also visit with Mira Sahney, CEO of Hyalex Orthopaedics, one of medtech’s most interesting startups; Hyalex was identified as a notable startup in the recent report in Medical Design and Outsourcing.

In this interview, Sahney reveals Hyalex’ origins, the state of its potential cartilage replacement product, and why start-ups have a natural advantage operating in a pandemic.

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Nadim Yared, CEO of CVRx

This week, CVRX reported positive six-month trial results for its Barostim Neo, an FDA-approved treatment for heart failure.

The results follow years of close work between the agency and CVRx, one of the more ambitious startups in medtech. CVRx is targeting a huge clinical need with novel neuromodulation technology.

In this week’s DeviceTalks Weekly podcast, CEO Nadim Yared walks us through the negotiations the company went through with the FDA to get to this point.

Yared, the prior chairman of the industry group AdvaMed, also shares the story of his career, which started early on when he secured a job at GE even before graduating college.

In this talk, Yared speaks to several issues including:

The power of confidence and the dangers of overconfidence when building a career.

-How he decided to take the job at CVRx (and why he didn’t initially want to talk about the job with a recruiter.)

-What CVRx learned from other successes and failures in renal denervation.

-Why the company is betting big on heart failure, but doesn't have a Chief Medical Officer.

-Whether or not his role as chairman at AdvaMed impacted his work at CVRx.

-Can medtechs generate good returns after raising hundreds of millions in capital?

This conversation took place prior to the emergence of COVID-19, so DTW host Tom Salemi visited again with Yared more recently. We’ll play that interview in next week’s episode of DeviceTalks Weekly.

If you’re looking for more medtech discussions, register now for DeviceTalks Weekly at devicetalks.com.

Subscribe to he podcast. Don’t miss an episode!

DeviceTalks Weekly: Ep. 15 – Why FDA put the pedal to the metal for radar and hummingbirds. And why medtech needs Google.

In this week’s episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, co-hosts Chris Newmarker and Tom Salemi dig into the recent successes by start-ups Circadia Health and Perceptis Medical, which both saw expedited approval from the FDA due to the pandemic.

We also unveil the 20 medical device companies you need to know.

https://www.medicaldesignandoutsourcing.com/20-medical-device-startups-you-need-to-know-2020/

Circadia CEO Fares Siddiqui discusses the quick approval that came for his company’s C100 system that uses radar to monitor respiratory function. Preceptis Medical CEO Steve Anderson, meanwhile, explains why the agency – and he hopes payers – want to see his company’s ear-tube implanting system on the market.

We also visit with Heidi Dohse, Sr. Program Manager at Google’s Cloud Healthcare & Life Sciences organization, who will be leading the upcoming DeviceTalks Tuesday’s discussion about how medtech devices can use data to better serve its sickest patients.

https://www.devicetalks.com/devicetalks-tuesdays-agenda/

Dohse partners with physicians and researchers around the world to provide insights regarding the patient experience and ideas for engagement. She travels globally educating audiences on digital health, data and healthcare. On Tuesday, she’ll discuss.

• How do we weigh “patient lifestyles” vs. “therapy/product” lifecycles”?

• What impact will connected devices and apps have on patient outcomes?

• How can data help improve and even transform the patient experience?

• Speaker:

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe to DeviceTalks Weekly on your podcast players.

This week’s DeviceTalks Weekly podcast episode talks with industry leaders about improving worker diversity and developing new ways to treat COVID-19 patients.

Kevin Lobo, chairman and CEO of Stryker, explains how his company – and the industry group AdvaMed – has been working  to increase diversity of its workforce, particularly in senior and sales positions. Lobo is serving a two-year term as chairman of AdvaMed. In this interview, Lobo speaks specifically to how Stryker is tracking progress, where it has come up short, and how it’s working to help workers identify their own biases.

Lobo also says Stryker is poised to regain momentum after the pandemic.

Next, Kevin Sayer, executive chairman, CEO and president of Dexcom, says the company’s continuous glucose monitors are finding a home in hospitals as they help monitor the health of COVID-19 patients. Sayer says the company’s monitors have helped keep patients, especially diabetics, off ventilators and allowed them to get discharged more quickly. What’s next for Dexcom? “We think this is an important market for us, not just COVID-wise,” Sayer says.

Finally, Raj Denhoy, equity research analyst at Jefferies, breaks down private equity group Blackstone’s investment in Medtronic’s diabetes line. Why would the medtech giant take outside money? Is this something we’ll see more of in medtech?

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe to DeviceTalks Weekly on your podcast players.

DeviceTalks Weekly: Ep. 13 –  Cala Health CEO Renee Ryan Brings Business Building Insights to Bioelectronic Medicine Startup

In this week’s episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, Tom Salemi, editorial director of DeviceTalks events and content, visits with Renee Ryan, the CEO of neuromodulation startup Cala Health.

Ryan came to Cala from the venerable medtech investor Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., where she made over 15 investments helping to create companies including Auris Surgical, Cala and digital surgery play Verb Surgical, J&J’s joint venture with Verily. “I really set my mind to [asking] was there a way we could create our own opportunities,” she said of her eight years as the corporate investor.

We ask Ryan about her move into medtech investing from investment banking as well as the  “secret power” that helped her succeed as an investor and an executive.

We’ll also discuss the unique commercial strategy Cala is employing as it begins rolling out its Cala Trio, a bioelectronic device developed to treat essential tremor.

The interview was conducted in February.

What role will tech companies play in medtech’s future?

Did Verb Surgical meet her expectations?

As CEO how do you manage investor syndicates with multiple corporate investors?

Can Cala secure reimbursement and create a new market for tremors?

What grade did she skip as a child?

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe to DeviceTalks Weekly on your podcast players.

In this week’s DeviceTalks Weekly podcast, we attempt to deliver heartfelt and hard won advice in a sort of commencement address by Todd Brinton, MD, Corporate Vice President,

Advanced Technology and Chief Scientific Officer of Edwards Lifesciences. Dr. Brinton sits down with host Tom Salemi to share his path into Medtech. Brinton shares great advice for anyone looking for a new career or opportunity in medtech. NOTE: This conversation was recorded in March, prior to the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

DeviceTalks Weekly: Ep. 11 – Medtronic is buckling up and ready to buy

In this week’s episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, we dip into Medtronic’s quarterly call to hear why company executives feel the medtech sector is already rebounding. The global giant also intends to start using its vast cash reserves to bolster its bottomline through M&A.

We’ll also talk with Jeff Champagne of MPR about medtech’s need for speed. He’ll be leading a discussion on this subject and more on the upcoming DeviceTalks Tuesdays.

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DeviceTalks Weekly: Ep. 10 – How do medtech investors, CEOS manage portfolio companies going forward?

In this week’s episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, we talk with two successful starters of medtech companies about how they’re building and maintaining their medtech portfolios during this pandemic landscape.

Our guests this week are…

• Justin Klein, MD, managing partner, Vensana Capital

• Duke Rohlen, chairman, Ajax Health

Together, Klein and Rohlen have created, backed and sold medtech companies that have generated billions.

Klein, formerly of New Enterprise Associates, now co-manages his own venture firm, Vensana Capital. He previously served on the board of directors of Cartiva (acquired), ChromaCode, CV Ingenuity (acquired), EPIX Therapeutics (acquired), FIRE1, GPB Scientific, Intact Vascular, Metavention, Personal Genome Diagnostics, PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals (IPO), Relievant Medsystems, Senseonics (IPO), Topera (acquired), Ulthera (acquired), Vertiflex (acquired), Vesper Medical, and VytronUS (acquired).

Rohlen, who leads a holdings company backed by private equity giant KKR, previously served as chairman and CEO of EPIX, Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Spirox, Inc (sold to Entellus Medical) and co-founder and CEO of CV Ingenuity. He was also president of Fox Hollow before it was acquired by EV3.

In this podcast we’ll learn how VCs are looking at investment opportunities in this market

• Are they making new investments?

• What impact is this having on valuation?

• Do VCs give stronger consideration to new concerns like supply chain?

• When will they get clinical trials up and running?

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe to DeviceTalks Weekly on your podcast players.