Edwards Lifesciences, a developer of heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring products, is developing a new manufacturing facility in Draper, Utah, which will enable the company to expand its manufacturing and R&D capability.

The value of the global pharmaceutical market in 2010, driven by stronger near-term growth in the U.S. market, is expected to grow 4-6 percent on a constant-dollar basis, exceeding $825 billion, according to report from market research firm IMS Health.

For years, the Lucas automated chest compression device was powered only pneumatically. However, the company now released the Lucas 2 with a lithium ion polymer battery that lasts up to 45 minutes, which was showcased at the 21st annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference.

The FDA notified healthcare professionals and patients of a change to heparin, effective today, which will include a new reference standard and test method used to determine the potency of the drug and detect impurities that may be present. The change will result in 10 percent reduction in the potency of the heparin marketed in the U.S., according to the agency.

HORIZONS AMI, which studied 3,602 STEMI patients who underwent primary PCI after two years, continued to find a statistically significant superiority for initial treatment with bivalirudin alone compared with heparin plus GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors, and for drug-eluting stents over bare-metal stents. The study was presented during the late-breaking clinical trials at the 2009 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference in San Francisco on Sept. 25.

Philips Healthcare is voluntarily recalling some of its HeartStart FR2+ automated external defibrillators (AED), with the knowledge of the appropriate regulatory agencies.

The long-awaited SPRIT IV one-year results, presented at the recent Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference in San Francicso, for Abbotts Xience V drug-eluting stent (DES) over Boston Scientifics Taxus DES found a stent thrombosis rate of 0.29 percent, which surprised even Chuck Simonton, Abbotts chief medical officer.

A simplified method for bundling fixed doses of a generic statin and angiotensen-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocker was successfully implemented in a large, diverse population in an integrated health care delivery system, reducing the risk of hospitalization and stroke, according to a observation study published Oct. 1 online in the American Journal of Managed Care.