News In Brief

Medtronic PLC officially opens Shanghai Innovation Center Aug. 28 in China, intended as the company’s “initial step” in creating local product R&D in the country. The facility, which will work with Medtronic’s global R&D teams, will eventually include “hundreds” of R&D staff, Medtronic said. While the facility’s current staff is relatively small, the majority of whom are in sales but with a small team of scientists, the firm says it will add 1,000 more employees (including R&D, sales and other personnel) over the next five years. Technologies to be developed at the center could include biomaterials for use in “high-quality and affordable medical devices,” according to a company spokesperson. In addition to focusing on R&D, the center will serve as an “incubator for Chinese physicians eager to translate their ideas into clinical solutions,” Medtronic said. The center dovetails with Medtronic’s previously articulated strategies to increase the percentage of its sales coming from emerging markets while streamlining R&D efforts to focus more on its growth strategy; in June, the firm noted that in fiscal 2012 it reduced the number of its R&D programs by 9% while reallocating $40 million in R&D spending to boost its productivity. (See Also see "Medtronic Aims To Double Its Presence In Emerging Markets By 2015-2016" - Medtech Insight, 11 June, 2012..)

The U.S. Department of Justice will pursue enforcement only in certain cases against hospitals that violated Medicare coverage criteria for providing patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators, according to a DOJ...