Philips Healthcare ($PHG) sealed up a crucial 510(k) clearance for a new interventional X-ray system, a year after the product first gained approval internationally.
Medical imaging is becoming increasingly competitive globally as a tool for minimally invasive therapies. And so Philips scored a win by gaining clearance for its AlluraClarity system in the U.S.--accessing the world's largest healthcare market. The company touts its product as having an edge, in part, because it can rely on low X-ray dose settings but still enable "excellent visibility" for a wide range of clinical procedures.
"The transition from highly invasive surgical procedures to minimally-invasive image-guided therapies, with all their intrinsic benefits, is a transformation in the delivery of healthcare that is rapidly accelerating around the globe," Philips Healthcare Imaging Systems CEO Gene Saragnese said in a statement.
Healthcare systems are also focused more on reducing costs. An that frame of mind can make it a challenge to successfully pedal a new product. Philips is trying to work its way around this issue by noting that the base technology (Clarity IQ) will be available separately as an upgrade to most of Philips' existing monoplane and biplane interventional X-ray systems already in use at various hospitals.
Philips is also trying to be creative as to how it markets and provides its imaging tech and other technology to hospital clients. In late June, it inked a 15-year, $300 million distribution deal with Georgia Regents Medical Center that it bills as the first of its kind. Philips will provide imaging systems, patient monitoring and clinical informatics technology, but also collaborate with hospitals on ways to design and launch patient-care systems that are cost-effective and able to be duplicated.
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