An article in the Financial Times should delight members of the device world, as it demonstrates changing perceptions of the industry's offerings. "Until fairly recently, devices and diagnostics made up the unfashionable wing of the healthcare industry--the poor relation of big pharma and its blockbuster drugs. It was associated with low-margin knee implants, surgical scalpels and laboratory tests that took days or weeks to deliver a result that, even then, might be wrong," the article begins. "Today, diagnostics companies are indispensable allies of the pharmaceuticals industry in the push for more personalized medicines, helping to match the right drug to the right patient. Medical device companies are pioneering ways to monitor and manage patients' wellbeing," it continues. The industry is receiving a publicity boost thanks to alliances with better known pharmaceutical companies around companion diagnostics, and tech titans like Verily (formerly Google Life Sciences). One of Verily's many med tech alliances is with Boston-based startup Entrega, which is developing an ingestible patch. Quoted in the article is MIT's Robert Langer, who helps run Entegra. Langer's celebrity status makes him one of the device world's de facto spokesmen, further raising its profile. More
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