For 2020 and 2021, our year-end lists of the most-read articles were dominated by COVID-19—and rightly so, with the coronavirus being front-of-mind as it grew to define our daily lives.
But this year? Not so much.
Alongside the return to in-person meetings and conferences, the shedding of masks and the debut of newly updated vaccines, 2022’s top stories mirrored the public’s pivot to what was perhaps pushed aside during the pandemic’s pause. For the medtech industry, that means exciting new data from diseases that never left the stage, even while COVID-19 hogged the spotlight.
It also reflected recalibrations in the sector, with worker layoffs and product delays, as well as the continuous consequences of global product recalls, all complicated by an intransigent international supply chain.
Our top story is a chapter from one that we’ve been following all year, and then some: Philips’ recall of its home breathing support hardware for sleep apnea. After beginning in June 2021 with findings that pieces of the device’s insulating foam could break off and enter a user’s airway, repair-and-replace efforts have ballooned to include more than 5 million devices worldwide. This past August, Andrea Park reported the FDA had racked up more than 69,000 public complaints in just over 12 months.
The second story comes from the top of the year, with the diabetes data company Dexcom showing off clinical results in January from its new G7 wearable continuous glucose monitor. Dexcom finally received the FDA’s blessing for the device earlier this month, after having to resubmit its application for review after changes to its software.
Up third comes news of layoffs at Invitae, shortly after the arrival of the company’s new CEO, Kenneth Knight. More than 1,000 employees were slated to be let go as part of a year-long restructuring plan that aims to see the genetic testing company save around $326 million per year.
Next comes the FDA’s first clearance of a non-drug treatment for fibromyalgia pain. NeuroMetrix’s Quell device is worn as a sleeve that wraps around the leg, with electrodes that stimulate nerves’ pain relief response.
Dexcom and its G7 returned to place fifth, after announcing mid-year that it would be pushing back the planned U.S. launch of the device. Though the sensor was first submitted to the FDA in late 2021, the company wanted to rework how connected smartphone apps alert the user of significant changes in their blood sugar.
Philips also makes multiple appearances on our list, with a late November update that the agency has counted 260 total deaths among people affected by the ventilator recall, though it has not linked them directly to the company’s CPAP and BiPAP machines. Between Aug. 1 and Oct. 31, the agency also received more than 21,000 new medical device reports.
Now for a fun one: A small, vibrating pill designed to help people with chronic constipation cleared a clinical study in May and is headed to the FDA for final review. After being swallowed, Vibrant Gastro's device shakes to stimulate the colon’s involuntary contractions, with the goal of resyncing them with the body’s biological clock for improvements in regular bowel movements.
At number eight is a story from May, part-way through Philips’ recall. The FDA had proposed issuing an order that would require Philips to repair, replace or refund all of its more than 5 million affected ventilators. At the time, the company said it would continue to cooperate with the agency, and had already produced 1.1 million replacement devices and repair kits for U.S. patients. The order has not yet been made official.
Story nine is a step towards the future: the brain-computer interface developer Synchron announced it had implanted its first device in a live U.S. patient, as part of a clinical trial of severely paralyzed people. The news got a boost in readership earlier this month after Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos’ personal firms invested in the company, and not long after it was reported that Elon Musk’s Neuralink had come under a federal investigation for its animal testing practices.
Rounding out our list at number 10 is a spring cleaning update from Medtronic, which shuffled around its surgical robotics, diabetes and cardiac business leaders in mid-March. A popular read on LinkedIn, news came a few months before the medtech giant announced it would be spinning out its respiratory and patient monitoring divisions into a new separate company.
Meanwhile, our annual class of the Fierce Medtech Fierce 15—in its 10th year—celebrated the startups that stand out from the pack. They include the developers of lifesaving devices you can hold in your hand as well as intangible networks of data to help answer pressing biomedical questions.
Nominations are currently open for this year’s Fierce 15. Please be sure to submit the fiercest companies you think deserve to be recognized, and thank you for another great year of stories from a truly dynamic industry.