Edwards Lifesciences Corp. didn’t miss the chance to bend the ear of a rising political leader this month.
Sen. Darrell Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat, visited Edwards’ plant off Red Hill Avenue, touring its heart valve manufacturing operations and learning about the device maker’s highly touted less-invasive valve program.
Steinberg’s tour was followed by a luncheon roundtable talk with Michael Mussallem, chief executive of the Irvine heart valve maker, and leaders of several Southern California technology companies, both in and outside healthcare.
Steinberg is set to become the Senate’s president pro tem later this year. He’s known for his work in a different form of healthcare,mental health.
He authored Proposition 63, which California voters passed in 2004. Proposition 63 will establish a community-based system of mental health treatment, prevention and support services.
“He’s making the investment to understand our issues and interests because he’s going to have a greatly expanded responsibility later this year,” Mussallem said.
Edwards has hosted politicians who have what Mussallem calls “a strategic interest” in knowing the goings-on of technological fields, including healthcare.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman of Tustin and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, an Irvine Republican, as well as Assembly Speaker Fabian N & #250; & #324;ez, a Los Angeles Democrat, have all visited the device maker.
“We very much are bipartisan,” Mussallem said.
Other local device bosses participated in the tour, including J. Andy Corley, who heads Eyeonics Inc., an Aliso Viejo maker of replacement lenses for cataract patients that is now a unit of Bausch & Lomb Inc.; and Ken Charhut, chief executive of Orqis Healthcare Corp., a Lake Forest developer of devices to treat congestive heart failure.
Charhut, who worked with Mussallem back when Edwards was the cardiovascular division of Baxter International Inc., participated in the Steinberg and N & #250; & #324;ez events.
He said he’s “always gotten the impression from both of those gentlemen that they truly do want to understand what our issues for the medical device area (are).”
Lawmakers “are always somewhat enlightened by the fact that Orange County does have a medical device (industry) and it’s not just in Silicon Valley,” he said.
The Edwards tour wasn’t organized under the auspices of a trade group but Mussallem’s known for his work with such.
He’s on the executive committee of the board of directors of the California Healthcare Institute, a La Jolla trade group. Mussallem is also chairman of the board of directors for AdvaMed, a Washington, D.C., device group, and is a founding member of the Orange County Technology Action Network.
DeviceFest: OC Companies
DeviceFest, held at the Westin South Coast Plaza, combined a competition for medical device makers, an exhibition, seminars and a luncheon speech by Eric Simso, a vice president of cardiology marketing for Boston Scientific Corp.
Some 25 companies, including those from OC, San Diego and even as far away as Australia, attended.
Judges from venture capital firms such as Versant Ventures walked through the exhibit hall, evaluated the devices and gave awards. Winners included HeartSmart Technologies Inc., an Irvine company that makes software to help doctors identify atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries.
The exhibition portion of DeviceFest showcased a gamut of small device makers.
Besides HeartSmart, local exhibitors included Bone-Rad Therapeutics Inc., a Corona del Mar maker of radioactive bone cement; Cianna Medical Inc., maker of a detection device for early stage breast cancer; Tustin-based DeviceLab Inc., a medical product design and engineering company; Brea’s Discovery Medical Inc., which makes touch-less dispensers and faucets for hand sanitizing; Focus Diagnostics, a Cypress unit of Quest Diagnostics Inc. that showcased a herpes simplex test; USGI Medical Inc., a San Clemente company that makes a system that allows doctors to perform gastrointestinal surgical procedures through natural orifices; and Volcano Corp., a Rancho Cordova catheter maker that got its start in OC.
Biocom Inc., a San Diego-based healthcare trade group that is looking to increase its Orange County presence, presented the conference.
Bits and Pieces:
St. Joseph Health System, an Orange Catholic hospital operator, received a “great workplace” award from the Gallup Organization for the second consecutive year AMDL Inc., a Tustin maker of drugs and diagnostic tests, said it was introducing Goodnak, a line of anti-aging products, to the Chinese market. AMDL has relied on foreign markets for most of its growth in recent years.
