Overheard at GMM HQ
"I could be ready to sit down with Barbara Walters at the drop of a hat." – Holley Malia on best practices for media interviews, as discussed in our latest blog.
WHAT THE INDUSTRY IS BUZZING ABOUT
CHANNEL CHANGER
With the UK green-lighting Brexit, the future of medical device trade across the Channel remains murky. Ensuring the ongoing flow of medical technology into the UK is paramount for economic and patient care reasons, and there are four likely options for how it will go down.
WHICH ONE WILL EU CHOOSE?
Options range from a UK membership with the EEA, setting up a mutual recognition agreement specific to medical devices, creating a special trade agreement similar to that between the U.S. and Europe, or complying with the general World Trade Organization (WTO) arrangement. Each option carries different implications for the free movement of goods and people between countries — or, as Poison would say, every [English] rose has its thorns.
THE 411
Brexit is a hot mess and the device industry is still figuring out how to clean up their part of it. It's business as usual until the break-up becomes Facebook official, at which point the UK's new leadership will have to choose a treatment plan.
MELTS IN YOUR HEART, NOT IN YOUR HAND
Abbott has recently received FDA approval for Absorb, the only fully dissolving stent approved for the treatment of coronary artery disease. After supporting the dilation of an artery for three years, the stent pulls a disappearing act — no surgery or magic wand required.
BECAUSE COMMITMENT IS SCARY
Absorb provided comparable results when tested against the leading metallic stent, but its ability to be reabsorbed allows the patient's artery to return to normal with pulsing and flexion movements, and may also reduce the potential of future blockages that can occur with permanent metallic stents. Today's modern arteries just don't want to be tied down, okay?
THE 411
With 15 million people in the U.S. suffering from coronary artery disease, Absorb represents a huge therapeutic advancement. Meanwhile, commitment-phobes everywhere are taking note of this new and improved take on the Irish Goodbye.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF TAKE-HOME TEST
As any high schooler will tell you, a take-home test is always preferred. BioLytical Laboratories is bringing this philosophy to the HIV testing market, announcing that their INSTI HIV Self Test will be commercially available at the end of this year.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
With approximately half of the 2.5 million people living with HIV in the European Region unaware of their status, the private and immediate results provided by the INSTI HIV Self Test may represent a positive step towards achieving the UNAIDS 90-90-90 Initiative.
THE 411
Not everyone wants to take an HIV test as publicly as the Obamas did back in 2006. For those who've been avoiding anxious waiting room stints and awkward small talk with nurses, the first commercially available over-the-counter HIV test just voided a couple big excuses for staying in the dark.
GOOD TO KNOW
POKÉMON GO... DIRECTLY TO THE E.R.
As smartphone users across the nation found one more reason to fuel their screen addiction with the launch of the Pokémon game last month, distracted users began popping up at the E.R. with lacerations and fractures resulting from falls, prompting the National Safety Council to issue a safety warning. Pokémon Go figure.
