Medical device companies and investors are set to come together in Newport Beach in October.
Octane, an Aliso Viejo booster group for startups, is presenting its annual medical device and investor forum on Oct. 25 and 26 at the Marriott Newport Beach.
Scheduled speakers include a mix of device executives and venture capitalists.
Robert Grant, the new president of Bausch & Lomb Inc.’s Orange County-based global surgical business, is a scheduled speaker.
Grant, who previously was head of Allergan Medical, the medical cosmetic unit of Irvine drug maker Allergan Inc., took over the Bausch job on Aug. 1.
Venture capitalists set to speak include Charles Warden and William Link, a pair of managing directors in the Newport Beach office of Versant Venture Management LLC.
Link is a seminal figure in OC’s medical device industry, particularly on the eye device side. He’s been a constant in the device industry as an entrepreneur, executive and investor for much of the past 30 years.
Since becoming a venture capitalist in 1998, Link’s directed money to more than 20 companies, half of which are or were in OC.
Link also helped create a pair of major eye device makers. He cofounded and ran Chiron Vision Corp., a maker of eye surgery devices that was sold to Bausch in 1997 for $310 million.
He also started an eye surgery business in 1977 while working for American Hospital Supply Corp. The business eventually evolved into what now is Abbott Medical Optics Inc., a Santa Ana eye surgery and contact lens care company.
Other scheduled speakers include Larry Wood, corporate vice president, transcatheter valve replacement for Irvine’s Edwards Lifesciences Corp.; James Corbett, chief executive of Aliso Viejo-based Vertos Medical Inc., which is developing a treatment for spinal disorders; and Roger Steinert, director of the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute at the University of California, Irvine.
Several panels are part of the event. One is titled “When Enough is Enough: When and How to Push Back on the FDA.”
Other panels are set to address topics such as healthcare information technology, best practices for medical device startup companies and how to use intellectual property effectively.
Besides panels and speakers, the forum also has a time where device makers can meet up with potential investors. Companies that have presented in the past include OrthAlign Inc., an Aliso Viejo maker of devices that are used in knee surgeries, and Irvine-based NeoMatrix Inc., which makes breast cancer tests.
Grubb Fund Buys Hospitals
Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis Co.’s healthcare unit has bought a long-term care hospital in Missouri as part of a deal for four properties.
A Grubb healthcare real estate investment fund bought the Cape Girardeau Long-Term Acute Care Hospital earlier this month.
Grubb said it paid $41.7 million for the Cape Girardeau facility and three related hospitals in Joplin and Columbia, Mo., and Athens, Ga.
The Cape Girardeau hospital, with 26,000 square feet of space, is about 115 miles south of St. Louis and 170 miles north of Memphis. It’s within two miles of St. Francis Medical Center, a 258-bed hospital that serves as its primary source of patient referrals.
Grubb’s healthcare unit buys hospital buildings, medical offices, assisted living facilities and nursing homes as well as other buildings with medical tenants.
FDA Coming to Town
As part of an effort to change medical device regulation (see Biotech and Biomed special report, page 15), the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health is holding a series of town hall meetings to gain input from industry representatives and others.
On Oct. 7, the FDA is presenting a town hall meeting in Irvine. Jeffrey Shuren, the center’s director, and other members of the center’s senior staff will appear at the meeting, which will be held at the Hilton Irvine/Orange County Airport. For more information: https://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/NewsEvents/WorkshopsConferences/default.htm.
Bits and Pieces
Masimo Corp., an Irvine maker of patient monitoring devices, said that its Pronto-7 device for patients with anemia, made the World Health Organization’s list of “top medical devices set to make a difference around the world” … Headwaters MB, an investment bank with an office in Irvine, said Brad Rosborough, a former executive with FHP International Corp. (now part of UnitedHealth Group Inc.), joined as a managing director in its healthcare practice … InstaMed Inc., a healthcare payment processing company with offices in Philadelphia and Newport Beach, said it introduced Patient Estimator, which allows providers to increase their collections, accelerate cash flow and decrease bad debt … Brain and Spine Surgeons of Orange County, a group medical practice, moved from its former location in a Newport Beach medical office building to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian’s neurosciences institute.
