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Philips announced a new… Philips announced a new randomized controlled trial to assess patient outcomes after receiving a percutaneous coronary intervention, or PCI, guided by Philips' unique co-registration platform, which combines data of an instant wave-Free Ratio, or iFR, measurement and the angiogram, compared with the standard of care treatment guided by an angiogram alone. PCI is one of the main treatment options to open narrowed coronary arteries of the heart in patients with coronary artery disease. European and U.S. guidelines already endorse the use of coronary physiologic measurements with iFR and fractional flow reserve, or FFR, for diagnostic purposes to determine the significance of a narrowed coronary artery. The DEFINE GPS study will be the first time that the use of iFR in conjunction with the Philips Image-Guided Co-registration System is evaluated for PCI guidance and the optimization of treatment outcomes. PCI is an image-guided, minimally invasive treatment to open a coronary artery blockage that is causing a reduced blood flow to heart tissue. Under the current standard of care, clinicians navigate a balloon catheter and coronary stent to the treatment area using interventional X-ray guidance. In the study, an iFR pullback measurement, which uses pressure wires to map the pressure profile of the disease distribution along the length of the affected vessel, will be overlaid on the X-ray image to guide treatment. iFR is a next-generation physiologic measurement that uses the same pressure guide wires and equipment as FFR but avoids the administration of hyperemic agents to patients. The global multicentre, prospective, randomized controlled DEFINE GPS study will investigate the impact of iFR Co-registration on both outcomes and cost effectiveness. The primary endpoint is target vessel failure or rehospitalization for progressive or unstable ischemia at two years. The DEFINE GPS study is sponsored by Philips with the Cardiovascular Research Foundation overseeing core lab and clinical event committee activities. The first patients will be recruited in the second half of 2020. | ||||
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Royal Philips announced a… Royal Philips announced a major partnership with the Republic of the Congo's Ministry of Health & Population and the United Nations Population Fund to reduce maternal and newborn mortality rates by fifty (percent in the country's health facilities over the next five years, especially in remote areas. The three partners are working together to develop a large-scale 'Emergency obstetric and newborn care' program that will reach more than 500,000 women and 70,000 newborns, improving access to high quality and affordable maternal, neonatal and child healthcare. The first phase of the program will target five districts: Talangai, Ouesso-Mokeko-Pikounda-Kabo, Sembe-Souanke, Zanaga-Bambama and Sibiti-Komono. The main objective of the program is to manage high-risk pregnancies and complications in healthcare facilities better by training midwives, enabling timely prevention of - and intervention during - complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. As part of the program, health facilities in remote parts of the Congo will be fitted with solar power systems and ultra-portable ultrasound and monitoring devices so that midwives and doctors in these district health centers can identify and manage high-risk pregnancies onsite and provide emergency obstetric and newborn care. Community health workers serving remote communities will be equipped with backpack outreach kits containing key equipment to assist in childbirth, together with a mobile phone they can use to get remote technical support. | ||||
The U.S. International… The U.S. International Trade Commission has voted to institute an investigation of certain wearable monitoring devices, systems, and components thereof. The investigation is based on a complaint filed by Philips North America and Koninklijke Philips (PHG) on December 10, 2019. The complaint alleges violations of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 in the importation into the United States and sale of certain wearable monitoring devices, systems, and components thereof that infringe patents asserted by the complainants. The complainants request that the USITC issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders. The USITC has identified the following as respondents in this investigation: Fitbit (FIT) of San Francisco, CA; Garmin International, Garmin USA, and Garmin Ltd. (GRMN); Ingram Micro (IM) of Irvine, CA; Maintek Computer Co., Ltd. of Suzhou New District, Jiangsu Province, China; and Inventec Appliances of Shanghai, China. The USITC will make a final determination in the investigation at the earliest practicable time. Within 45 days after institution of the investigation, the USITC will set a target date for completing the investigation. Reference Link | ||||
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Cyberattackers alleged to… Cyberattackers alleged to be working for China's intelligence services stole "volumes of intellectual property" from "scores of companies" over the past several years in a hack dubbed "Cloud Hopper" by the security researchers who first found evidence of it in 2016, said The Wall Street Journal's Rob Barry and Dustin Volz, who report that their investigation has found that the attack was "much bigger than previously known" and "goes far beyond the 14 unnamed companies listed in the indictment." At least a dozen cloud providers - including IBM (IBM), HP Enterprise (HPE) and CGI Group (GIB) - were breached and The Journal's investigation found hundreds of companies that had relationships with those breached cloud providers, including Rio Tinto (RIO), Philips (PHG), American Airlines (AAL), Deutsche Bank (DB) , Allianz (AZSEY) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the report stated. Reference Link | ||||
Royal Philips and… Royal Philips and Florida-based Health First announced the outcomes of their 15-year tele-critical partnership. Powered by Philips' acute telehealth platform eCareManager, Health First's VitalWatch eICU has demonstrated significant reductions in mortality and lengths of stay for the health system's sickest patient population. Leveraging eCareManager to synthesize patient data for actionable insights to support proactive care, Health First has created a centralized hub for patient care across venues beyond the ICU. Health First became Florida's first tele-ICU when the organization went live with VitalWatch in September 2004 and remains the only tele-ICU hub in Central Florida today. VitalWatch allows Health First's critical care physicians and nurses to monitor real-time vital signs, laboratory results, and patients' complete electronic medical records from a central location across 102 ICU beds at the four Health First hospitals. The VitalWatch staff can also direct a patient's care on the spot via live audio and video connections to the patient's room if needed. To date, the VitalWatch eICU program has resulted in: 23 percent reduction in overall mortality across the four hospitals as a whole; 49 percent reduction in ICU length of stay; and 35 percent reduction in lengths of stay throughout the four hospitals. VitalWatch monitors more than 10,000 patients each year. Annually, this vigilance has resulted in 48,000 interventions by eICU intensivists and registered nurses. Additionally, these teams have conducted more than 370,000 telemedicine assessments and managed 62,000 calls from bedside teams seeking to collaborate on patient care. | |
Catch up on today's… Catch up on today's top five analyst upgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Ingersoll-Rand (IR) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo with analyst Deepa Raghavan saying she believes the standalone ClimateCo potential is ready to be realized post-split. 2. Epizyme (EPZM) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley with analyst David Lebowitz saying he expects data this weekend at the American Society of Hematology meeting to bolster confidence in tazemetostat for follicular lymphoma. 3. Philips (PHG) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley with analyst Michael Jungling saying he thinks its organic sales growth momentum will continue and he believes its Q3 margin outlook downgrade has reset expectation. 4. Montage Resources (MR) upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at Scotiabank. 5. HCA Healthcare (HCA) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill with analyst Kevin Fischbeck saying the recent trend of elevated utilization with few catalysts in the coming 6 months should benefit hospitals but hurt managed care organizations. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here. | |
Morgan Stanley analyst… Morgan Stanley analyst Michael Jungling upgraded Philips to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of EUR 50, up from EUR 41, stating that he thinks its organic sales growth momentum will continue and he believes its Q3 margin outlook downgrade has reset expectation. Execution issues notwithstanding, the shares are now at the bottom among his covered companies on a number of metrics, said Jungling, who views the current valuation as a "compelling" buying opportunity. He believes the company's Q4 report in January, along with which it should give more detailed 2020 guidance, and its Capital Markets day in May should be catalysts for the shares, Jungling added. | |
Morgan Stanley upgraded… Morgan Stanley upgraded Philips to Overweight from Equal Weight. | |
HealthCONx Conference… HealthCONx Conference 2019 will be held in Boston on December 3-5. |