Posts from — August 2009

France based EDAP has announced 510k approval for it’s new lithotripsy device.

Marc Oczachowski, EDAP’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are very pleased that the U.S. FDA has granted 510(k) approval for Sonolith I-Sys, which marks a clear milestone for EDAP, further validates our technology and supports our objective to expand the Sonolith I-Sys into additional geographic territories. With the U.S. approval, we will be positioned to enter one of the largest global markets for lithotripsy. This is an excellent opportunity for EDAP. We will now actively market Sonolith I-Sys and its patented electroconductive technology. We strongly believe that this is the most advanced and robotized lithotripsy system and that it will play a role in the high end market in the U.S. as it was designed to respond to the specificities of this established market.”

EDAP, publically traded in the US saw it’s shares jump significantly from 1.37 USD to over 4 USD.

The medical durables business in France continues to suffer with recently acquired Corona (operation of Paramount in Japan) announcing a plant closure, with production moving to China.

This in contrast to medical device manufacturers Urgo in the Burgundy region and Vygon that have announced good results and resultant investment programs.

Invacare is seeking injunctive relief and suing Drive Medical for alleged patent infringement related to it’s bed products as well as it’s rollator.

Invacare had previously announced in one of it’s presentations that it would be focussing more on protecting it’s intellectual property and this action may well partially stem from this.

As more and more companies (like Invacare, Drive and others) seek to compete in the highly cost competitive “national competitive bidding” environment, and in addition increasingly source product from China and other Asian countries there are bound to be more disputes of this nature.

With Invacare shares trading at the psychological level above $20 for the first time (in a long time), far out performing the S&P 500, you have to ask whether the base US homecare market is in turnaround mode (despite competitive bidding, Chinese direct market entrants etc) – or is it just Invacare’s perseverant ability in a tough US market to out-perform?

Check out the chart