So acute is concern over product safety that later this month, the Medical Device Safety Institute (MDSI) is sponsoring a conference at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Boston, that will discuss and hope to find solution talking points about the number of critically important issues that have impacted the market. In particular, the conference will focus on ICD lead safety and performance issues to identify where changes to the current system are needed.

There is Some Good News Too


On a positive note, St. Jude Medical, Inc. reported that 2007 second-quarter sales of implantable cardioverter defibrillators increased 18 percent, to $327 million, compared to the same period a year ago. Richard A. Packer, President and CEO at ZOLL said the company's third quarter 2007 performance was strong, "particularly in the North American pre-hospital market." He says that ZOLL continues to grow across the globe, with particular strength in professional defibrillators sold in emerging markets and AED growth in Europe.
Meanwhile, Defibtech, LLC, in Guilford, CT, which designs and manufactures AEDs and has attained a staggering 16,286 percent revenue growth rate over five years from 2002 to 2006, has earned the highest ranking among medical equipment companies and Number 7 rank overall in Deloitte's Technology Fast 500. The company recently announced that, over the past five years, more than 50,000 Defibtech's Lifeline(TM) and ReviveR(TM) defibrillators have been deployed in public access areas, workplaces, police and fire vehicles, schools and churches, health clubs and other locations through distribution partners worldwide.
The Hartford Courant printed an article in its October 21, 2007 edition entitled Building Home Grown Tech Firms, in which Defibtech president Gintaras Vaisnys, said, "Right now, Defibtech is concentrating on organic growth. For example, next year we'll be releasing a new set of products. We're looking to release a product that's the iPhone of the defibrillator market, and I think from that we can see tremendous growth in the next couple years just from that type of product."

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