July 2008 Blog Posts (15)

Google to Extend Reach With Venture-Capital Arm

The Wall Street Journal reports today that Google has begun moves toward starting a venture capital arm. Google already has a nonprofit philanthropy group, Google.org foundation, that addresses global health issues which includes investments in groups such as INSTEDD led by Dr Eric Rasmussen, MD (former Navy physician). Now it wants to start a formal venture capital arm, similar to Intel Capital, Time Warner… Continue

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 31, 2008 at 9:12am — No Comments

FDA and Military Health System (MHS) deepen existing information-sharing relationship.

Federal Computer Weekly reported today that MHS TRICARE officials and the FDA commissioner attended a recent meeting to discuss the expansion of the sharing rights to include use of MHS databases to track unexpected side effects for newly approved pharmaceuticals. It will also include investigating and tracking outbreaks of food poisonings and incidents of bioterrorism.

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 30, 2008 at 8:19am — No Comments

Cloud vs Cloud: A guided tour of "Cloud Computing" with Amazon, Google, AppNexus, and GoGrid

Dr Jonathan Dugan, MedTechIQ member #1, CEO Matson Systems and expert on online community development/peer to peer megafile networking, shares a link from Info World that compares various "Cloud Computing" offerings. As described by Dan Reed, Microsoft Research, cloud computing is the commercial evolution of GRID computing and is proliferating… Continue

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 24, 2008 at 10:00am — No Comments

Intuitive Surgical Inc, surgical robotics industry leader, reports 56% increase in 2d Qtr revenues to $219.2 million

With stock price currently exceeding $300.00 per share, Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (Nasdaq:ISRG), the industry leader in surgical robotics, today reported second quarter 2008 revenue of $219.2 million, increasing 56% from $140.2 million for the second quarter of 2007. Second quarter 2008 revenue growth was driven by continued robotic procedure adoption and higher da… Continue

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 24, 2008 at 12:00am — No Comments

Medpedia - Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, U of Mich - Collaborate to Create World's Largest Online Medical Encyclopedia

According to Wall Street Journal MarketWatch, physicians, medical schools, hospitals, health organizations and public health professionals are now volunteering to collaboratively build the most comprehensive medical clearinghouse in the world for information about health, medicine and the body.

This free public site… Continue

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 23, 2008 at 7:52am — No Comments

US News Announces 2008 Best Hospitals

US News announced its rankings of the top US hospitals. No major surprises. Job well done!

# 1 Johns Hopkins Hospital

# 2 Mayo Clinic

# 3 Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center

# 4 Cleveland Clinic

# 5 Massachusetts General Hospital

# 6 New York-Presbyterian Univ. Hosp.

# 7 UCSF Medical Center

# 8 Brigham and Women's Hospital

# 8 Duke University Medical Center

# 10… Continue

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 22, 2008 at 1:57am — No Comments

Military Health System to assess alternative strategies to electronic health record - AHLTA

In a recent edition of the Government Health IT, "What's Brewin", JULY 21, 2008, Bob Brewin reports that the Military Health System (MHS) plans to make a decision in the next week on developing an alternative for its electronic health record system, the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (AHLTA). In an interview with Dr. S. Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs, Brewin notes that the… Continue

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 21, 2008 at 12:30pm — 2 Comments

Pension funds & university endowments put more money into venture capital than a year ago

Despite dismal IPO market for VC backed start-ups, big buck investors (limited partners) continue to pour money into venture capital funds. As reported in the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's hometown newspaper, 71 VC funds raised $9.1 billion nationwide in the second quarter of 2008 - a 3 percent increase over the $8.8 million raised in the second quarter of 2007. What is most interesting about this report, to me, is that… Continue

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 15, 2008 at 7:41pm — No Comments

iPhones At $199 Today -- New Competition, Cheaper In Days Ahead?

From Tech Observer, Condé Nast Portfolio Today is a big-day for the iPhone, sure. Block-long lines of customers outside of Apple stores. All kinds of "man-on-the-street" reports on the evening news. Etc. Etc. And while sales of the device are probably going to be great, Apple's price-drop and pre-emptive move to grab market share is occurring on a calm sea. In the months… Continue

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 11, 2008 at 1:08pm — No Comments

Who are the Technology Rich States - in the US?

The Milken Institute State Technology and Science Index, which ranks states based on their technology and science capacity to contribute to economic development, placed: 1) Massachusetts, 2) Maryland, 3) Colorado, 4) California, 5) Washington, 6) Virginia, 7) Connecticut, 8) Utah, 9) New Hampshire, 10) Rhode Island.

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 9, 2008 at 9:00am — No Comments

Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center — Gets new Name, Mission

The Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center on Wednesday, 2 July 2008, took on a new name and mission as the National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI). As the Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center, the center focused on medical threats to the nation's deployed military units. That will remain a key mission, but as a national center, it will also provide intelligence for domestic… Continue

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 7, 2008 at 10:00pm — No Comments

IPEEX Venture Capital Platform Demo in Rockville, Maryland

IPEEX, the new venture capital platform that intends to streamline the capital acquisition process for early stage companies will be offering a free demo July 09, 2008 from 10:00 am - 11:30 am at the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development, 111 Rockville Pike Suite 800, Rockville, MD 20850.

As part of the process of helping local companies achieve their funding objectives, the event is being sponsored by the… Continue

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 5, 2008 at 2:35pm — No Comments

Pfizer & Glaxo Ink Multi-Million Dollar R&D Deals with Academia

Biotech Transfer Week reports that Pfizer and Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) are continuing the trend toward the pharmaceutical industry funding large partnerships with academic research institutions to invigorate their innovation pipelines. The full Ben Butkus article is an excellent overview of recent initiatives by industry to leverage academic discovery.

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 4, 2008 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Uniformed Services University & Henry Jackson Foundation Convene 1st Annual Symposium

Got a chance to attend an excellent & unique day long symposium earlier this week. Attended by key thought leaders in military medicine, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF) and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) teamed up to host their 1st Annual Symposium on how vital advances achieved by military medicine improve the care and treatment of our nation’s soldiers, as well as its… Continue

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 3, 2008 at 8:00pm — No Comments

German firm & Johns Hopkins University team up to develop new surgical tools

A new partnership forged between Johns Hopkins University and a German biomedical engineering firm, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, brings together experts in the field to develop minimally invasive surgical tools.

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 3, 2008 at 1:13pm — No Comments