Kiger's Notebook

Mayo Clinic works on new monitoring device

Mayo Clinic is testing a remote health monitor device, or “guardian angel,” it developed with a Swiss company that could snag a piece of a multimillion-dollar market.

STMicroelectronics, which has engineers in Rochester working with doctors, is collaborating with Mayo on a device that monitors a patient’s heart rate, blood pressure, activity levels and breathing. The goal is to create a device that goes home with patients and tracks their conditions.

One clinical study of the device has already been conducted here, and a second study targeting hospitalized heart patients began Thursday, said Kathy Anderson, a Mayo Clinic spokeswoman. The goal is to enroll 10 patients, Anderson said.

Mayo Clinic and ST do not have a financial relationship connected to the project.

“This is what we consider a co-development or collaboration agreement,” Anderson says. “There is no technology license. We hope to take this technology to patients, and ST has been the one to help us create the prototype device.”

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“If there is joint intellectual property between Mayo and ST, there will be a co-patent or license,” says Anderson.

Having even half of such a device could prove profitable. Estimates of the telemedicine or health monitoring market by industry experts range between $3.6 billion to $11 billion.

Berg Insight estimated in a recent report that home monitoring could be an option for 300 million people in Europe and the U.S. The report also estimated that the market could grow by 10 percent a year.

Mayo Clinic's retiring CEO to partner w/ Smoldt

Here's an interesting tidbit from health reporter Jeff Hansel on what Mayo Clinic's top leader will do after he retire.
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When Mayo Clinic’s departing national president and CEO Dr. Denis Cortese retires Nov. 20, he’ll leave Rochester — but he’ll rekindle an old partnership.

Mayo spokesman Karl Oestreich said Cortese will work in concert with former Mayo national chief administrative officer Bob Smoldt.

Together, they’ll lead the new Healthcare Delivery and Policy Program at Arizona State University.

The program “will focus on health care delivery changes that result in higher value health care, as well as the role of public policy in delivery system reform,” Oestreich said.

He noted that Cortese will stay involved in health-care reform and continue to support the mission of the Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center’s efforts.

Smoldt led the center in 2007 while he transitioned out of his role as Mayo chief administrative officer. But he and Cortese will reprise their roles, this time at Arizona State.

Roch. Chamber bash 2009 - awards and pics

Here's a little bit from my story about about tonight's Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce Celebration and a few pics.

A crowd of 634 area business leaders heard a message of optimism tempered with the knowledge of the difficulties that lay ahead Thursday.

“ We must dream big and the time is now,” John Wade told the crowd gathered for the annual Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce celebration at the International Event Center.

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He concluded his time at the podium by saying, “ We are indeed the front door of free enterprise and we are indeed open for business in Rochester.”

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A special President’s Award, only the second ever presented in the Chamber’s 150 year history, was given to  A.M. ‘”Sandy” Keith for his long service to the community culminating in his role as executive director of the Rochester Downtown Alliance.

Keith, known for his gruff, but playful demeanor, stalked up to the podium and barked “Absolutely no standards” into the microphone as he accepted the award.

With a grin, Wade said he along with the staff at the chamber and the RDA will miss that gravely voice.

Other awards presented included:

• Business of the Year: John Hardy’s Bar-B-Q. The award was accepted by owner John Brockman.

• Jan Warfield Volunteer of the Year Award: This went to two Chamber volunteers this year. Kristine Ihrke of Best Western Soldiers Field and Eric Jenney of IBM.

• Lamp of Knowledge: Kathy Meyerle of Mayo Clinic.

• Ambassador of the year: Vinny Barry of Value Place hotel.

NeoChord's first human patient

Remember NeoChord?

That's the Minneapolis biotech company founded in 2007 that is working on bringing to market a Mayo Clinic-created non-invasive method for fixing a leaky heart valve AKA mitral-valve regurgitation.

Mayo Clinic does have an investment in an equity position in NeoChord. 

Well, it has installed its heart fix in a human patient in Europe now.

That sounds like a solid step toward getting a product to market, assuming the test goes well.

Here's some from a press release on the study:

NeoChord, Inc., a venture-backed, Minneapolis-based medical technology company, announced today that it has enrolled the first patient in its European clinical trial.

The trial is being conducted in Germany, Denmark, Czech Republic and Norway.

“We are very pleased with the early results of this first procedure,” said Per Wierup and Sten Lyager Nielsen, the cardiac surgeons who performed the surgery. “The patient is an otherwise healthy, very active 47-year-old male who preferred to not have a sternotomy or cardiopulmonary bypass to fix his severe mitral regurgitation. The NeoChord approach has successfully treated his mitral regurgitation and potentially offers him a quick return to his military career and favorite hobby, scuba diving.”

Intra-operative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) confirmed that the patient’s severe, eccentric mitral regurgitation was reduced to zero or trace mitral regurgitation. 

Giovanni Speziali, MD, the cardiac surgeon who is the primary inventor of the NeoChord device also attended the procedure.  “These results, although early, are equivalent to what we obtain in traditional open heart surgery for correction of mitral regurgitation,” said Dr. Speziali.

Mavo on the move

An accidental blaze in January ruined plans to expand its Rochester office, but Mavo Systems now has a new and much larger place to call home in Med City.

Mavo Systems, an environmental and mechanical systems contractor, closed on the purchase Friday of a 9,000-square-foot building at 3030 Prow Lane N.E., near Valleyhigh Drive Northwest.

Dana Krakowski, Mavo’s director of sales, says the firm based in White Bear Lake, Minn., has about 50 on staff in Rochester. It has been working out of the ex-Mill’s Fleet Farm store on U.S. 63 South since the fire at 6844 10th Ave. S.W.

Why have such a large presence in Rochester?

“We do a lot of work for Mayo Clinic and IBM and Rochester Public Schools,” she says.

The firm does environmental work like removing asbestos, lead and toxic flooring. It also does mechanical installation, flooring treatments like polishing concrete as well as other services.

Mayo Clinic 'unscripted' TV show?

The status of the proposed 'unscripted' or reality-style television show based on day-to-day action at Mayo Clinic sounds like the phrase used in the final frame of many cliff-hanging, season ending episodes - To Be Continued.

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An “unscripted” or reality television show focused on Mayo Clinic was proposed by the Turner Broadcasting cable network earlier this year.

Here’s what Mayo spokesman Chris Gade had to say about it last week:
“Nothing’s changed. No final decisions have been made.”

Stay tuned.

Mayo Clinic Dr. + 'Dancing with Doctors'

No worries. This is not a spin-off of the 'Dancing with the Stars' TV show.Dr. Michael Brennan, an endocrinologist, appears on an espisode called 'Dancing with Doctors,' which is part of the PBS series "Life (Part 2)."

Thanks to Mayo Clinic's Social Media Guru Lee Aase for pointing this out on Twitter.

Here's some of PBS' introduction to the show:

Why do we often feel scared, rushed, and powerless in the doctor’s office? Can this affect how we heal? Why do doctors behave the way they do? How can we improve the “dance” we do with doctors?

Host Robert Lipsyte, a two-time cancer survivor, asks the insiders. The Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Michael Brennan offers pointers on getting and keeping your physician’s attention and reaping the greatest benefits from a visit to the doctor.

MayoClinic.Com vs Righthealth.com

Here's a tidbit I stumbled upon. It looks like, according to MarketCharts.Com that MayoClinic.Com has been topped by RightHealth.Com in the standings as online medical sources.

In January, MayoClinic.com had 4.76 percent of the U.S. visits, which placed it as #2 behind WebMD's 12.67 percent. RightHealth.Com was #7 with 2.18 percent.

In February, MayoClinic was still #2 with 4.92 percent and RightHealth.com was #3 with 4.07 percent.

In September, RightHealth.Com has #2 with 5.67 percent with MayoClinic.com #3 with 3.48 percent.

Alexa, a Web site traffic tracking site, ranks MayoClinic.com as 513th top visited site for U.S. traffic.

Alexa puts RightHealth.com at 1,024 for the U.S.

MayoClinic.com has 10,463 sites linking to it compared to 284 linking to RightHealth.Com., according to Alexa.

Earlier this week, Time Inc.'s Health.com announced a partnership with RightHealth.comm to expand Health.com in 2010.

Not sure what all of this adds up to for MayoClinic.Com, but the pieces are interesting. I'll follow up with Mayo soon.

Kardia Health Systems launches new service

Rochester-based Kardia Health Systems, the imaging software firm based in the Minnesota BioBusiness Center, announced this afternoon that it is launching a new service.

Here's a little bit from the press release. I'll check for more details to see what this means for Rochester.

Kardia Health Systems, today announced the immediate availability of ConnectedCare, the first complete, online, fee-per-study cardiovascular information system. ConnectedCare combines Structured Reporting and picture archiving and communication systems in an online solution.  

ConnectedCare is a comprehensive image management system for cardiology, including remote archiving, viewing, analysis and intelligent structured reporting, in one solution. ConnectedCare includes Kardia’s new ConnectedArchive, a unique remote archiving system that lets physicians edit and complete reports remotely, while eliminating the administrative task of implementing and maintaining a local archive. T
 
“ConnectedCare will transform health care, by streamlining the way physicians manage, view and report cardiovascular information,” said Doug Marinaro, chief operating officer of Kardia Health Systems. “Increasing productivity ultimately leads to improved patient care.”
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ConnectedCare is priced on a fee-per-study basis….

Anti-obesity device maker+ big hurdle + $4.9M = ?

Here's a couple tidbits that seem to signal action @ EnteroMedics, a St. Paul, Minn. company that Mayo Clinic back in 2005 to work together to develop an external, Pacemaker-like weight control device.

“Spectacularly successful” is how EnteroMedics CEO Mark Knudson described the relationship with Mayo Clinic back in 2006. 

Here's some from a Dow Jones story by Jon Kamp:

EnteroMedics Inc. on Friday became the latest company to stumble in the medical-devices field of neuromodulation, where treating various disorders with electric pulses to the nervous system remains a promising but sometimes hard-to-achieve goal.

The small company, which has been working on a device called "Maestro" that blocks signals on a major nerve to treat obesity, said initial analysis showed a key U.S. trial for the device failed to meet its main goals. Shares closed Friday down 78.2% as a result to 98 cents a share, and down to 97 cents in recent late trading. The results are a blow for company that has been burning through tens of millions of dollars to develop this system and bring it to market.

EnteroMedics followed up with a late announcement Friday that it has reached a deal with an institutional investor to sell 6.2 million shares for 80 cents a piece to raise $4.9 million. The news didn't stop the tumbling share price, however. As of June 30, cash on hand was nearly $35 million and debt was $20 million. The company burns between $6.5 million and $7 million per quarter.
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An interim study in January showed positive results for the Maestro system, but the much larger Empower study didn't bolster those findings.

According to the company's announcement, the sale of the 6.2 million of shares should wrap up by Wednesday.

Another local link of EnteroMedics is that former Pemstar exec Greg Lea is the chief financial officer for what was a very rapidly rising company. That position might not be as fun today as it was during the very optimistic days as a few months ago.