MPO Movers

MPO’s Most-Read Stories This Week—Feb. 10

A listing of the most popular items from the past seven days.

By: Michael Barbella

Managing Editor

Top companies was tops among MPO website visitors this past week. But it wasn’t the magazine’s annual Top 30 Medical Device companies list that enticed cyberguests.

Rather, it was personnel changes, regulatory blessings, and clinical trial data that caught readers’ eyes.

Johnson & Johnson amassed significant pageviews this week, as the healthcare behemoth’s Biosense Webster company shared late-breaking clinical data on the Varipulse platform, and its MedTech group chairman accepted the top job at LivaNova. 

Vladimir A. Makatsaria is set to move into LivaNova’s corner office on March 1, succeeding interim CEO Bill Kozy, who has been leading the company since former CEO Damien McDonald resigned without reason last April. Makatsaria was most recently company group chairman at Johnson & Johnson MedTech, leading its global Ethicon surgery business. 

News of Makatsaria’s new post occurred on the same day Biosense Webster revealed 12-month results from its company-sponsored inspIRE study. Data show 80% freedom from atrial arrhythmia recurrence and no adverse events. The Varipulse platform earned approval from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) in January 2024.

Royal Philips and Hologic gained favor with top company enthusiasts for their respective FDA clearances. Philips won support for its newest IntelliVue patient monitoring software, which features the Philips Sounds alarm package. The company and sound design group SenSound collaborated to soften and round alarm tones and adjust alarm intervals to more gently signal status or request action using a more soothing yet still impactful set of alarm sounds. Hologic, meanwhile, obtained clearance for its Genius Digital Diagnostics System with Genius Cervical AI algorithm. Genius is reportedly the first and only FDA-cleared digital cytology system that combines and AI interface with advanced volumetric imaging technology to identify pre-cancerous lesion and cervical cancer cells. 

1. Dexcom ONE+ Real-Time CGM Rolls Out in Europe

2. LivaNova Hires J&J MedTech Exec Vladimir Makatsaria as CEO

3. Philips Sounds OK’ed to Reduce Patient Monitor Alarm Noise

4. J&J’s Biosense Webster Shares Late-Breaking Data on Varipulse PFA

5. Hologic Receives FDA Clearance for Genius Digital Diagnostics System

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