Blog

Six Companies Received Millions In Funding This Week
January 10, 2015
By Andrew Hoglund

Several companies raised millions of dollars to help either further develop or market their products this week. Cerus, CardioFocus, 23andMe, PureTech, GlySens, and Sera Prognostics all received funding, either through Series funding, through deals with other companies, or through fund raising of their own. Cerus is in the process of raising $70 million through a public offering of 12.7 million shares at $5.50 a share. Cerus’s stock has jumped in the last couple weeks because of several FDA approvals for their Intercept Blood System to treat blood products. The system

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Bay Area Medical Device Companies Doing Well
December 20, 2014
By Andrew Hoglund

There were several medical device companies from the Bay Area that made the news this week. A small company in South San Francisco, diaDexus, received FDA 510(k) clearance for its PLAC Activity test to assess coronary heart disease risk. The new test checks the activity of Lp-PLA2 (Lipoprotein-Associated Phospholipase A2) in human plasma and serum. The enzyme assay is based on a National Institutes of Health-funded study of 4,500 people with no prior history of heart problems which found that elevated Lp-PLA2 activity levels are associated with a much greater

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Recalls and Scandals Commanded November Headlines
December 8, 2014
By Aneel Dhaliwal

While we all enjoyed the November month by taking in the beautiful Fall colors and ultimately stuffing our faces with turkey and mashed potatoes, the medical device world was having a less than merry time. Recalls and scandals commanded the headlines keeping us folks wide-eyed with interest. Some of the biggest news related to recalls came from Hospira and Stryker. Hospira was struck with its fifth GemStar Infusion System related recall in 3 years. The FDA recalled Hospira’s GemStar device for potentially failing to deliver electric power to the pump.

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