Medical Design Briefs - November 2024 - 13

J&J is also eagerly awaiting the approval
of Varipulse, which will be its entry into
the pulse field ablation (PFA) market in
the United States. Varipulse is already approved
in Europe and Japan. Schmid said
that if everything goes to plan, J&J should
have approval of Varipulse by the end of
this year or early next year.
" As we prepare for Varipulse, we're
learning a lot through our early launches
in Japan and in Europe. The feedback
from our customers has been exceptional
and very similar to the feedback our
competitors are getting. Our customers
obviously love the safety profile. It gives
them a sense of security that they didn't
necessarily have before. We're seeing significant
reduction in procedure times,
which allows them to do more procedures.
Everyone wins, both patients and
our industry. "
" Electrophysiology isn't just about
catheters, " he said. " It really is the full
workflow. And one of the benefits we
have - and a big proponent of establishing
the leadership position we have
today - is the importance of mapping.
When you are navigating through a
heart, knowing where you are is really
important. And with our eighth generation
CARTO mapping system, it allows
physicians to know exactly where
they are and to pinpoint with precision
their procedures. "
CARTO Integration. Even with J&J
not having a PFA product yet in the
United States, Schmid said that 50 percent
of U.S. PFA procedures are
mapped with J&J's mapping system.
" It's not just the technology, it's also
the sophisticated nature of our highly
trained mappers. We have CARTO established
in 5,500 sites across the world
in almost every single cath lab here in
the U.S. Once we have that technology,
we have no doubt that we will regain
some of the share that we are seeing
move to some of our competitors in
the short term. "
Shockwave Acquisition. While specialization
matters in all parts of medtech,
Schmid said that this is especially
true in the case of cardiovascular. For
acquisitions like Abiomed and Shockwave,
he said that those businesses will
retain their independence, and it's all
about investing for growth. " Those are
going to be long-term gems for Johnson
& Johnson in the same way that
our EP business is. "
Medical Design Briefs, November 2024
Vision Care Business. J&J supplies the
eye care needs of almost 40 million people
globally, Schmid said. And, he added
that he expects that strong leadership
position in contact lenses is well established
and will continue. However, he
noted that surgical vision has been a
challenge here in the U.S.
" When we look at our share globally,
we're gaining share but primarily on
the back of our performance in AsiaPac
and in EMEA where we are seeing
tremendous momentum, especially on
our premium [intraocular lens] innovations,
specifically in TECNIS PureSee, "
he said. " Where we are focusing
on changing the trajectory in the U.S.
is that premiumization of our IOL
portfolio. We will be broadly launching
our TECNIS Odyssey platform later on
this year, which we believe will create a
tailwind to return that business to
more positive performance. "
Surgical Market. " It's really a tale of
two stories within surgery, " said Schmid.
" Our wound closure and our biosurgery
business - where we have very significant
leadership positions - continued
to perform well. " However, he noted that
these segments were a little soft in the
first half of the year, primarily driven by
some supply challenges in wound closure,
which J&J has since addressed.
" Our challenge has been in the advanced
surgery space. Specifically, our
endocutter businesses are challenged
TECNIS PureSee
IOL
is
a
refractive
presbyopiacorrecting
intraocular lens with continuous power
technology. (Credit: Johnson & Johnson MedTech)
The Varipuls™ Platform's full integration may reduce
the need for multiple methods of catheter visualization
used in one procedure, creating a streamlined workflow.
(Credit: Johnson & Johnson MedTech)
The VELYS™ Active Robotic-Assisted System (VELYS™ SPINE is intended for use in planning and instrumenting
spinal fusion procedures in the cervical, thoracolumbar, and sacroiliac spine. (Credit: Johnson & Johnson MedTech)
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Medical Design Briefs - November 2024

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