Carl Zeiss opens development unit in Bangalore

Carl Zeiss has been present in India since1998,butlargely as a sales and service business. The company manufactures an array of products ranging from prescription spectacle lenses to diagnostic and surgical equipments that are used in the fields of ophthalmology, neuro-surgery and cancer treatment, and in camera lenses.
The 4.2-billion euro German manufacturing company Carl Zeiss has established a research and development unit and two manufacturing facilities in Electronics City in Bangalore. 
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Carl-Zeiss-opens-development-unit-in-Bangalore/articleshow/14845713.cms

Opto Circuits launches new cardiac device in Europe

Medical equipment maker Opto Circuits today said it has launched its automated external defibrillators under the brand 'Powerheart G5' in Europe.

The company's subsidiary Cardiac Science Corporation has launched the product which is designed to provide effective life saving aid to a person who has suffered sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), Opto Circuits said in a filing to BSE.

Commenting on the development Opto Circuits Chairman and Managing Director Vinod Ramnani said: "The Powerheart G5's combination of life saving features and intuitive controls will appeal to current and new customers in work places, public spaces and emergency services".
The company said that automated external defibrillators market is valued at USD 550 million as of 2011.
Each year as many as 7,00,000 lives are lost to SCA in Europe, it added.

http://business-standard.com/india/news/opto-circuits-launches-new-cardiac-device-in-europe/173996/on

GE Healthcare to add 400 jobs in India this year

GE Healthcare will increase its workforce by about 10 per cent in India to 4,400 people by the end of this year as it looks to strengthen research work in the country.
“We will be adding 10 percent more to our present strength of 4,000 employees in India by the end of this year,” GE Healthcare South Asia president and CEO Terri Bresenham said.

Bresenham said the company has plans to enhance its research and development team of 1,200 people in India.

“Out of these 400, between 150 to 200 people will be in research and development (R&D),” she added.

http://www.firstpost.com/business/ge-healthcare-to-add-400-jobs-in-india-this-year-371764.html

Philips begins operations at greenfield healthcare manufacturing facility in India

In line with its strategy to expand the company’s industrial footprint in India, Royal Philips Electronics today announced commencement of operations at its first greenfield manufacturing facility for imaging systems in the country.

• Located in Chakan, near Pune, 200 kilometers east of Mumbai, the Philips Development and Manufacturing Centre will play an essential role in Philips’ commitment to locally develop and produce meaningful products and solutions that help improve access to healthcare for people in India and other growth geographies.
• The facility will focus on diagnostic and interventional imaging solutions, initially developed for the Indian market and then for global markets. These solutions will primarily target cardiology (catheterisation lab) and radiology (general X-ray) applications.
• The first products to be manufactured in the facility will be diagnostic X-Ray systems and the Allura FC – Philips’ first India developed catheterisation lab.Both products are aimed at the value segment in India and abroad.
• Philips conducted in-depth research to understand the on-the-ground requirements in India and worked closely with healthcare partners to gain better insight into their ‘made in India’ needs. The Pune facility will deliver this type of ‘designed for India’ product, enabling healthcare providers in the country to provide care to those communities who have not had access to high-quality healthcare in the past.

http://pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=69559&sid=2

Philips to develop more low-cost healthcare products for Rural India

Consumer electronics major Philips will focus on developing healthcare products for rural India — a shift away from its exports–led strategy of the previous years.

Till about three years back, all products developed by the company were meant for exports and this has come down to about 85 per cent this year. Going forward, the quantum of products developed for the Indian markets will go up “exponentially” and the team “will churn out more products for rural India”, .

Over the next few months, Philips will launch a range of products such as colposcopes (a device used to check for cervical cancer), thermo regulators, and cardiology informatics solutions for use in the local market.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/info-tech/article3480507.ece?ref=wl_industry-and-economy

Siemens healthcare maps rural conquest

• Around 67% of India’s 598 districts do not have cathlabs. Close to 60% of districts do not have MRI facilities and 50% do not have CT scanners.
• Disturbingly, while the road facing AIIMS in Delhi has around 15 MRI centres, the entire state of Bihar with a population of 100 million has less than 15 MRI centres
• A Technopak estimate seconds such assertions, claiming that while people from tier-III towns and cities have to travel 73 km on an average, people from tier-II cities have to travel 66 km to avail of healthcare service.

These figures led Siemens to prepare a list of such districts, which didn’t have the healthcare technologies the company has expertise in. The company calls these the ‘zero installation base’ or the ZIB districts. For each core technology that Siemens specialises in, it generates a ZIB database. Then, the company superimposes a few other economic parameters of these ZIB districts — GDP of the administrative unit, population and consumer spending — to zero down on destinations with critical mass but no technology. Every year, the company demarcates 25-50 such ZIB districts as targets for expansion.
Some of the districts which were part of the ZIB strategy are CT scanners in Jorhat, Assam and Bhandara in Maharashtra; MRI systems in Mahasena, Gujarat and Bellary in Karnataka, ultrasound in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh and Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh; cathlab in Andamans and x-ray product in Begusarai, Bihar

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/siemens-healthcare-maps-rural-conquest/952808/0

Invive Healthcare: Introducing innovative medical tech

Founded in June 2011, their focus is on neurogastroenterology as well as minimally invasive early stage cancer diagnosis. They have just launched Cellvizio, an early stage cancer detection probe, which does away with the need for a traditional biopsy
Cellvizio is a probe that enables detection of cancer at an early stage. By selling a product like Cellvizio to both private and government hospitals, research institutions have helped generate revenues for the company. A wider product portfolio and a stronger distribution network is what the Invive team is now working on.
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/special-videos/invive-healthcare-introducing-innovative-medical-tech-_704140.html

Piramal Healthcare Presents Positive Results of Pivotal Phase III clinical trial for BST-CarGel

The trial represents the first of its kind in cartilage repair using novel, three-dimensional quantitative MRI techniques that substantially improve comparisons of repair cartilage structure (quantity and quality) through standardised data acquisition and precise and blinded analyses.

• BST-CarGel treatment met both co-primary trial endpoints by achieving statistical significance over microfracture in both the degree of filling of treated lesions and the quality of the new tissue.
• Overall, this trial demonstrated that cartilage repair structural outcomes resulting from BST-CarGel treatment were superior at 12 months to microfracture, the current standard of care, with a similar safety profile.
• This represents a critical finding as cartilage structure (quantity and quality) is believed to translate to longer durability and sustained clinical benefit.

http://www.expresspharmaonline.com/index.php/latest-updates/455-piramal-healthcare-presents-positive-results-of-pivotal-phase-iii-clinical-trial-for-bst-cargel

 

 

Philips launches ClearVue; to launch series of locally developed products

Philips Innovation Campus ( PIC) launched ClearVue, a family of ultrasound solutions as part of its strategy to launch a series of locally made products to be launched this year.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-05-11/news/31669109_1_indian-conditions-philips-innovation-campus-pic

Chennai-based Perfint gets biotech award

Chennai-based health equipment company Perfint Healthcare Corporation has won the Department of Biotechnology's Biotech Product and Process Development and Commercialisation award for this year.
The award was presented by the former President, Abdul Kalam, on the occasion of National Technology Day.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3409513.ece

India's Piramal Acquires Bayer Imaging Portfolio

The deal announced Monday includes florbetaben, a molecule designed to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, which Piramal says could generate $1.5 billion in sales.
The product is in late stage clinical trials. Piramal plans to submit it for U.S. regulatory approval by year’s end.
Piramal, which sold its core generic drugs business to Abbott Laboratories in 2010, is trying to transform itself into a brand-name pharmaceutical company, with lucrative patents worldwide