Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has now confirmed that it is buying the medical device maker, Synthes. The purchase price is $21.3 billion in cash and stock, in one of the biggest deals ever in the healthcare sector. The rumors of the acquisition began swirling last week. Synthes will join with the J&J unit of DePuy Companies. It [...]
Nanoparticles With Polymer and Peptides Target Liver Cancer Cells
April 28, 2011 By 1 Comment
Researchers have developed novel drug-delivery carriers on the nanoscale that specifically target malignant human liver cancer cells. The researchers report in a paper that appeared online in Nature Materials that these new drug delivery agents that can carry all kinds of molecules are made from porous silica nanoparticles wrapped in a special lipid membrane and [...]
Polymer Takes a Spin for Future Computer Chips
April 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Researchers at Ohio State University have created the first electronic circuit that combines traditional inorganic semiconductors with organic, polymer-based “spintronics”. Spintronics are devices that exploit the spin of electrons to read, write, and use data. Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin‘s team combined an inorganic semiconductor with a special plastic material that researchers in Arthur J. Epstein‘s lab are developing. [...]
West Looks to Chinese Plastics Market
April 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment
As China undertakes a complete overhaul of its health care system and its medical device firms work to boost their competitiveness globally, some Western plastics companies involved in processing and design are looking to take advantage of these changes. As Asia bureau chief Steve Toloken reports in Plastics News: Government reforms, including a US$125 billion [...]
Going Small to Better Make Biodegradable Polymers
April 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Think big but go small. That’s what a team of researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Polytechnic Institute of New York University were thinking when they developed an improved and “greener” method for producing biodegradable polymers. The team led by NIST materials scientist Kathryn Beers created a microscale reactor that [...]
Johnson & Johnson to Buy Medical Device Company Synthes
April 21, 2011 By 1 Comment
The rumors began over the weekend and are growing stronger. Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is in discussion to acquire Synthes, a Swiss medical device manufacturer. If the deal crystallizes, J&JÂ could boost its revenue and profit in the short term and gain a strong foothold in the growing market for orthopedic surgery products. It will also [...]
GAO Concerned About Medical Device Approval Process
April 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has raised concerns about the approval process that high-risk medical devices undergo — or rather, don’t undergo — by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The federal watchdog group says the agency recently took steps to see if certain high-risk medical devices, such as artificial hips and external defibrillators, [...]
Regulators Have Bone to Pick with Medtronic Devices
April 19, 2011 By 2 Comments
Bone growth products by medical device giant Medtronic are in the regulators’ headlights. Medical devices like Amplify and Infuse that stimulate bone growth are now front and center on the radar screens of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Justice Department. Medtronic also makes other medical devices such as pacemakers and defribrillators. [...]
Did Synthetic Rubbers Give Prehistoric Artifacts The Blues?
April 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
A scientific mystery regarding prehistoric flint tools that have taken on a peculiar blue hue is sparking a controversy in Italy. As Associate Editor Carmen Drahl reported in Chemical & Engineering News, some scientists suspect that the plastic pads lining a storage container have caused these precious archeological artifacts to become contaminated. The prehistoric tools are [...]
