St. Jude's Starks nets $6.7M in 2012; Terumo reaches into Costa Rica;

 @FierceMedDev: DBS helped some anorexia patients eat more. Item | Follow @FierceMedDev

 @MarkHFierce: Fierce 15 company Nevro just closed $48M in Series C financing. Yet ANOTHER robust device funding round. Release | Follow @MarkHFierce

 @DamianFierce: Illumina, SynapDx ally to develop autism diagnostic tools. Article | Follow @DamianFierce

> St. Jude Medical ($STJ) CEO Daniel Starks made $6.72 million in 2012, up 2% from the previous year. Item

> Terumo subsidiary MicroVention just opened a new Costa Rican manufacturing facility focused on neurovascular products. Release

> Philips Healthcare ($PHG) and Infraredx are collaborating on imaging, uniting Philips' Allura Xper catheterization lab imaging tech with Infraredx's true vessel characterization tool. More

> Startup MxBiodevices is seeking $8 million in funding to fuel a pivotal study for bioscaffolding designed to help heal diabetic foot ulcers. Story

> Doctors performed the first U.S. surgical operation earlier this month using 3D printing technology to produce an implant that helped replace 75% of a patient's skull. Item

> EShields has signed exclusive distribution partnerships with companies in Kuwait and Japan involving its antimicrobial film, which is designed, in part, to protect mobile and touch screen devices in hospital emergency and operating rooms. Release

> MIT grad student Mikolai Begg won the university's famed $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Collegiate Student Prize, based on his work developing multiple "cost-appropriate" medical devices. Story

Biotech News

 @FierceBiotech: Aastrom lands a new CEO in a game of musical biotech chairs. News | Follow @FierceBiotech

@JohnCFierce: I'd be willing to bet that Perlmutter has a couple of billion-dollar deals--like BioVex/Micromet--up his sleeves. Merck needs PhIII assets. | Follow @JohnCFierce

@RyanMFierce: I wonder whether Perlmutter will keep plugging away at CETP and other questionable Merck programs. | Follow @RyanMFierce

> Analysts track a spike in mid-cap biotechs' R&D spend. More

> GSK files diabetes drug in Europe in big regulatory offensive. News

> Ex-Amgen research czar Perlmutter to helm Merck's struggling R&D ops. Story

Pharma News

@FiercePharma: On 2nd thought: U.K. cost agency backs Novartis asthma drug Xolair. New discount, new analyses, NICE says. More | Follow @FiercePharma

@EricPFierce: Impax handed a 12-page Form 483 for a California plant by FDA. Plant must get OK before FDA will consider Impax NDA. Story | Follow @EricPFierce

> Sales reps, don your badges. We'll be watching you. More

> Glaxo chief loses half his incentive pay, cutting total to $5.86M. Story

Pharma Manufacturing News

> Merck to close plant in Ireland. News

> Teva manufacturing cuts may have to involve home turf. More

> Ajinomoto buying biologics CMO Althea. Report

Vaccines News

> Sequester cuts set to hit vaccines. Report

> Study pins cancer vaccine failures on self-sabotaging adjuvant. Story

> GSK lawsuit shows risks of vaccine outsourcing. More

> Novartis encouraged by typhoid vaccine progress. Article