MPO’s Most-Read Stories This Week—Sept. 24

Nothing drives website traffic quite like legal showdowns.

Such was the case this past week when a Cook County, Ill., jury awarded $363 million to a breast cancer survivor living less than half a mile from a medical device sterilization plant for more than three decades. Seventy-year-old Sue Kamuda’s lawsuit against Sterigenics was the first to be brought to trial; there are more than 760 complaints pending against the company in Cook County Circuit Court. Kamuda sued Sterigenics, alleging the company exposed her and surrounding residents to a known carcinogen that eventually led to her breast cancer diagnosis. Sterigenics used the cancer-causing chemical ethylene oxide (EtO) to sterilize medical supplies at its facility in Willowbrook for decades. Sterigenics has vowed to appeal the jury’s decision.

Also garnering digital page views an online exclusive outlining the ways that point-of-care diagnostics integration can future-proof society’s healthcare system. “Given the looming challenges of future pandemics, we should support policies that invest in integrated, scalable diagnostic solutions, which we can deploy rapidly at the point of care, especially in communities where little healthcare infrastructure is present,” writes Dr. Brian DuChateau, vice president of U.S. Clinical and Scientiic Affairs at LumiraDx. “This will enable effective decision-making at the point of need, save health care costs, and improve patient outcomes.”

Other items garnering interest among cybervisitors included EU regulators’ approval of Insulet’s Omnipod 5 Automated Insulin Pump, Outset Medical’s national dialysis care contract, and Getinge’s supply partnership with Medtronic. 

Omnipod 5 is the first CE marked tubeless hybrid closed-loop system that pairs with Dexcom’s G6 continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to automatically adjust insulin and help guard against high and low glucose levels. Omnipod 5’s SmartAdjust technology receives a CGM value and trend every five minutes to predict where glucose levels will be an hour into the future.

The Getinge-Medtronic union, meanwhile, applies to the CE-marked Radiant covered stent, the first covered stent indicated for chimney endovascular aneurysm repair (ChEVAR). The Radiant covered stent is a private labeled Advanta V12 balloon expandable covered stent produced by Getinge and distributed by Medtronic. The Medtronic offering leverages eight sizes of the Getinge (Atrium Medical) stent portfolio.

1. Breast Cancer Survivor Living Near Medical Sterilization Plant Awarded $363M

2. Integrating Point of Care to Future Proof our Community Health System

3. Insulet’s Omnipod 5 Automated Insulin Pump Gains EU Nod

4. Outset Medical Awarded National Dialysis Care Contract

5. Getinge Enters Supply Partnership With Medtronic for Radiant Covered Stent