A new Congress is in session, and one of its first actions took up a top goal of the medical device industry in Orange County and elsewhere: the repeal of a federal tax on companies’ revenues.
S. 149, or the Medical Device Access and Innovation Protection Act, was introduced Jan. 13 by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and included co-sponsors from the Senate’s new Republican majority and the Democratic minority.
The bill isn’t co-sponsored by California Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.
It’s designed to repeal the 2.3% tax on device makers’ revenue that’s existed since the start of 2013. Supporters bill it as a way to raise about $30 billion to pay for healthcare reform.
The tax typically applies to products that aren’t directly sold to consumers, such as replacement heart valves, pacemakers and artificial hips. Devices like contact lenses, eyeglasses and hearing aids are exempt.
Legislation to kill the tax also is active in the U.S. House of Representatives. Reps. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., and Ron Kind, D-Wis., reintroduced their Protect Medical Innovation Act this month.
The act has just over 260 co-sponsors, including newly elected Rep. Mimi Walters, R-Irvine, and veteran Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, and Edward Royce, R-Fullerton.
OC is a leading center of the medical device industry. Many companies here are in Walters’ district, which was previously represented by Rep. John B. Campbell.
Industry leaders, including the Advanced Medical Technology Association, the Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance, and the Medical Device Manufacturers Association, have relentlessly lobbied for a tax repeal, claiming it’s a “drag on medical innovation.”
Industry observers have said that for the tax to repealed, it must have an offset. President Barack Obama’s administration, which has threatened to veto device tax repeals in the past, is likely to have a much easier time doing so with a bill that doesn’t have an offset.
Alphaeon Funding
Irvine-based Alphaeon Corp. completed a private placement of stock in a deal led by Menlo Park-based Longitude Capital Management Co. this month. Alphaeon didn’t disclose the transaction’s value.
The company, founded in 2013, works with board-certified physicians to develop and market medical procedures and technologies that patients pay for with cash rather than through insurance.
“Longitude’s experience within the lifestyle and self-pay healthcare sectors makes them a great partner for the next level of our development and growth,” said Robert Grant, Alphaeon’s chief executive and chairman of its parent, Newport Beach-based Strathspey Crown Holdings LLC.
New Nvision President, HQ
Nvision Eye Centers Inc. appointed a new president and moved its corporate office from Newport Beach to Aliso Viejo.
James Pereyra is its new president. He replaces Todd Cooper, who is now chief executive of eye-device startup Presbia PLC in Irvine.
Pereyra previously served as Nvision’s vice president of business development and strategic planning.
Before joining Nvision, he was head of the personal care division at Solta Medical Inc., which was based in Hayward and is now a part of Canada-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.
Nvision employs 35 on the corporate level and is taking 9,000 square feet for its new headquarters at 75 Enterprise.
Its clinics perform laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis, or Lasik. Cataract surgeries are also available at the centers.
Bits & Pieces
San Clemente-based Sensory NeuroStimulation Inc. said it signed a new $1.5 million credit deal with Silicon Valley Bank. Sensory makes the Relaxis medical device for treating restless legs syndrome, a neurological condition. … Huntington Beach-based Memorial Prompt Care and Family Medicine changed its name to MemorialCare Medical Group. It’s an affiliate of Fountain Valley-based MemorialCare Health System. … Children’s Hospital of Orange County said HIMSS Analytics, a unit of the Chicago-based Healthcare Information Management Systems Society, received an award that “represents attainment of the highest level” of the Electronic Medical Records Adoption Model, which is used to track hospitals and health systems’ progress on using electronic medical records. … Dr. Kathryn Lane, a fellow in procedural dermatology at the University of California-Irvine, received an undisclosed research grant from the Rolling Meadows, Ill.-based American Society for Dermatologic Surgery. Lane will research daylight photodynamic therapy for treating actinic keratosis, or rough, scaly skin that’s considered precancerous and develops from sun exposure.
