2014: A Good Year for the Medtech Sector

JPMorgan Chase Analyst Michael Weinstein believes that 2014 will be good to the medtech sector. This week, the JPMorgan analyst published a research where he says to expect the medtech sector to grow 4.2% this year, up 0.8% from 2013.

“We see growth broadly accelerating in 2014-2015 as an industry that bottomed in 2011-2012 sees the benefits of new products, new markets, and small to mid- sized M&A. This is particularly true in cardiovascular devices, where we see growth accelerating at all three large cap names and ample room for innovation in small-cap, emerging growth companies – both public and private.”

Michael Weinstein

References: http://www.mddionline.com/article/jpmorgan-chase-analyst-2014-will-be-strong-year-medtech

Apple gets a Patent for a Seamlessly Embedded Heart Rate Monitor

Apple was awarded a patent for a seamlessly embedded heart rate monitor within in an electronic device (an iPhone, maybe?). The patent was granted on December 24, although the the application was made in January 2009. The patent describes an electronic device with an embedded sensor to detect cardiac activity and cardiac electrical signals.

However, Apple is not interested in becoming a FDA-regulated entity, so the company’s purpose is to use the heart rate as a way to authenticate a user’s identity or to determine the user’s mood from the cardiac signals and provide data related to the user’s mood. Anyway, it is not inconceivable that there could be medical applications of this heart rate monitor by third parties, already there are companies using the iPhone to build cardiac monitors.

References: http://www.mddionline.com/article/will-your-future-iphone-come-embedded-heart-rate-monitor