Boston Scientific has launched the first iPad app to help healthcare professionals educate patients and carers about cardiovascular diseases and their treatment.

CardioTeach, available free of charge, provides an overview of normal heart function and the therapy options for atrial and ventricular arrhythmias, coronary artery disease, heart failure, heart rhythm disorders and peripheral vascular disease.

The app’s accessible content and graphics (see picture) help the clinician to explain specific conditions and procedures used to treat them, helping patients and their families to make informed choices.

Healthcare providers can also use CardioTeach to mark up anatomical illustrations with cardiac devices, add notes to a page or attach graphics to an e-mail for the patient or carer.

The patient can receive personalised cardiovascular education anywhere, helping them to make decisions and understand compliance and adherence requirements.

“Most medical device apps are designed to educate physicians on a specific product or therapy, said Leslie Saxon, Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Southern California. “CardioTeach is unique because it lets clinicians better educate patients about their overall heart and vascular health and available treatment options.”

He added that CardioTeach gives patients “something they can reference after they leave my office and when thinking about or explaining what went on during the office visit,” as well as helping patients and their families “educate themselves prior to and between visits.”

Kenneth Stein, Boston Scientific’s Chief Medical Officer for Cardiac Rhythm Management, commented: “A recent study shows that one in five physicians use a tablet computer in their practice. Creating an app that enables healthcare professionals to use this technology to enhance communication with patients and caregivers is a logical extension of our efforts to empower patients with information about Boston Scientific’s therapies.”

Based in Massachusetts, USA, Boston Scientific is a global supplier of interventional medical devices.

Pfizer has agreed to pay $14.5 million for illegally marketing overactive bladder drug Detrol, for males with benign prostatic hypertrophy.

The settlement resolves the last of ten whistleblower suits that were filed by the government against Pfizer, under which the company agreed to pay $2.3 billion dollars to resolve multiple civil claims and criminal charges.

Carmen Ortiz, US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said: “We hope and expect that this is indicative of a commitment to move forward in compliance with the law, and we will continue to watch vigilantly to ensure that Pfizer complies with the law in its sales and marketing of drugs sold to the public.”

It was filed that the company illegally marketed Detrol for treatments not approved by the FDA, marketing it for use in men suffering from benign prostatic hypertrophy and several allied conditions, including lower urinary tract symptoms and bladder outlet obstruction.

Tony West, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department's Civil Division, said: “Whistleblowers play an important role in protecting taxpayer funds from fraud and abuse.”

The $14.5 million fine will be divided between the US and participating state Medicaid programs, with nearly $12 million going to the federal government and $2.5 million going to state Medicaid programmes.

“Settlements like this one help maintain the integrity of FDA's drug approval process and support important federal and state health care programs,” added Mr West.

This settlement is part of the government scheme to combat healthcare fraud through the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was established in May 2009.

Hologic, a manufacturer of diagnostics, surgical products and medical imaging technology for women, has received FDA clearance for its Trident specimen radiography system.

The device uses the company’s proprietary direct digital detector technology to produce high quality images of tissue samples, aiming to reduce procedure steps, streamline workflow and increase accuracy.

Peter Soltani, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Breast Health, said: “Our goal is to provide leading-edge technologies that improve the diagnostic precision of procedures and create a better experience for patients and their healthcare providers.”

The Trident is designed for use in the operating room where breast tissue is surgically excised, and in biopsy suites where minimally-invasive breast biopsies are performed.

Based in Massachusetts, USA, Hologic is a developer, manufacturer and supplier of diagnostics, medical imaging systems and surgical products dedicated to the healthcare needs of women with a focus on breast health, diagnostics, GYN surgical, and skeletal health.

Scottish diagnostic device company Axis-Shield has accepted a takeover bid by US ‘connected health’ specialist Alere three months after rejecting a slightly lower offer from the same company.

Alere is motivated to acquire Axis-Shield’s Afinion multi-parameter point of care testing devices, which compete with its US diagnostic products.

Axis-Shield rejected an offer of £230m from the US company in July but has now accepted an offer of £235m, an increase of only 2%.

The Dundee-based company blamed the “volatile economic and market backdrop” for its amended decision.

Alere took its second offer directly to Axis-Shield’s shareholders following the company’s rejection of its first offer.

Business analyst Mike Mitchell of Seymour Pierce commented that the increase in the offer was “not much more than a token gesture,” adding that “under more settled circumstances, the board may have considered to take a more robust position.”

Afinion, described by Axis-Shield as “a new concept in Point of Care”, is a multiparameter analyser device for on-the-spot testing of whole blood, plasma or urine samples for a range of characteristics including HbA1c and cholesterol.

Based in Massachusetts, Alere specialises in diagnostic testing systems for a range of conditions, supporting home-based healthcare through a ‘connected health’ strategy.

Precision Engineered Products (PEP) has acquired Boston Endo-Surgical Technologies (BE-ST), a specialist in the development of spinal and orthopaedic surgical instruments.

BE-ST provides a firm pipeline of technologies to strengthen PEP’s spinal surgery portfolio.

Alan Huffenus, CEO of PEP, said that the acquisition of BE-ST will continue the company’s “strategy of expanding our offering of highest technology medical devices that extend people’s lifespan and improve outcomes of surgical procedures”.

Massachusetts-based PEP is a manufacturer of surgical instruments including surgical stapling devices, endoscopic and laparoscopic devices and drug delivery systems.

A new smart phone application is being developed, that can measure heart rate, heart rhythm, respiration rate and blood oxygen saturation from the patient’s fingertip.

The new app uses the phone’s integrated video camera, and is claimed to be as accurate as standard medical monitors currently in clinical use.

Authors of the study at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Massachusetts, USA, stated: “This gives a patient the ability to carry an accurate physiological monitor anywhere, without additional hardware beyond what's already included in many consumer mobile phones.”

“One of the advantages of mobile phone monitoring is that it allows patients to make baseline measurements at any time, building a database that could allow for improved detection of disease states.”

The application, developed by Ki Chon, Professor and Head of Biomedical Engineering, and colleagues at WPI, analyses video clips recorded while the patient's fingertip is pressed against the lens of the phone's camera.

The camera's light penetrates the skin, reflecting off blood in the finger. The device’s technology is able to link subtle changes in colour with changes in the patient's vital signs.

Chon’s team of researchers is also developing a version of the mobile monitoring technology for use on video-equipped tablets.

“We believe there are many applications for this technology, to help patients monitor themselves, and to help clinicians care for their patients,” Chon said.

The UK Government’s Department of Health called for new healthcare app ideas in August 2011.

The FDA has approved Abbott’s stent system for the treatment of renal artery disease in patients with high blood pressure.

RX Herculink Elite is the first stent using cobalt chromium technology to gain a renal indication in the US.

Cobalt chromium allows for thin stent struts, which provides flexibility while maintaining strength to support the vessel and improves visibility during stent implantations enabling more accurate placement.

Michael R. Jaff, Medical Director of the Vascular Center and VasCore, at the Vascular Ultrasound Core Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, said: “This result supports renal stenting as an important treatment option, as elevations in blood pressure can increase heart disease and stroke risk in patients with renal artery stenosis”.

The approval was based on Abbott’s HERCULES (Herculink Elite Cobalt Chromium Renal Stent Trial to Demonstrate Efficacy and Safety) study.

The study involved 202 patients with renal artery stenosis at 37 sites in the US, and demonstrated that the stent is safe and effective, with a significantly low restenosis (vessel re-narrowing) rate of 10.5% at nine months post-treatment.

HERCULES is a prospective study designed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the RX Herculink Elite Renal Stent System in patients with atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis with uncontrolled hypertension.