FDAnews Device Daily Bulletin

St. Jude Medical announced Thursday that the company’s Amplatzer PFO Occluder has missed its primary endpoint in the RESPECT trial to evaluate the device’s success at reducing recurrent stroke risk.

The government of New South Wales will set aside $5 million annually for competitive device technology development and commercialization.

The best medical innovations for next year include an almond-size device that’s implanted in the mouth to relieve severe headaches and a hand-held scanner resembling a blow dryer that detects skin cancer, the Cleveland Clinic said Wednesday.

NuVasive received premarket approval from the FDA for the PCM Cervical Disc System.

While most people only consider consumer technology to be the kind that allow us to listen to our music wherever we go or check our email even when we are on the road, there are plenty of uses when it comes to medical technology.

A form of electric brain stimulation — an experimental approach known as transcranial direct current stimulation — is gaining traction as a promising therapy for brain injuries due to stroke or other traumas, depression, dementia, attention-deficit disorder and other conditions.

The device looks comically simple, almost like a toy: Royal blue handles curve into a bright white clamp, part pliers, part hole punch.

PatientPoint announced a partnership with the joint venture of UroMed and Cure Medical to offer patient education materials on incontinence and catheterization in urology exam rooms.