Seeing those greatly effected by the recent storms is devastating. While in various places the assessment of damage is still being assessed, physically, FDA also is assessing the set-backs from the recent natural disaster. This was expressed in a recent FDA Voice Blog by Margaret Hamburg, M.D., FDA Commissioner.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers report titled “Operating performance in the med-tech industry: Trends and imperative” was recently published with highlights the operating performance trends for the medical device industry and its various segments. Being a medical device CRO, we read with interest the report, and an article in MassDevice which also covered the report.

Recently MD+DI published an article, “The U.S. Medical Device Industry in 2012: Challenges at Home and Abroad.” The article speaks to the Industry being a source of jobs, innovation and revenue for Americans. In addition, U.S. has been the longtime world leader for the medical device industry.

A recent Medcity News article caught my attention. The title reads, “What is the biggest challenge facing medical device manufacturers today?” The challenges seem endless! We recently wrote a blog dealing with money saving tactics for the device industry, since this is an ever present issue. However, the article in the online news site focuses on a different area of hardship.

MarketWatch recently had a news-release on “Markets and Outsourcing for Clinical Activities.” In the article, it’s noted that while in the US and Europe costs are continuing to rise for clinical activities, sales are not growing- or growing at an insignificant rate. This is in stark contrast to emerging markets, where the opposite seems to hold true. Not surprisingly,  this leads to  more medical device organizations evaluating an expansion of their clinical programs into emerging markets to cut costs and boost sales.