Windhover Information's annual START-UP Forum, held this year in the beginning of April in Boston, was titled "Bringing Follow-on Funding to Heatlh Care," and featured a clinicians' roundtable discussion that examined new opportunities in medical devices. This article features excerpts from this discussion focused on what clinicians in cardiology, orthopedics, and neurology are looking for from device companies, feedback that can help spur adoption.

A set of doctors' perspectives on what clinicians see as emerging device technologies in cardiology, orthopedics, and neurology. This article is excerpted from Windhover Information's annual START-UP Forum, held this year in the beginning of April in Boston, titled "Bringing Follow-on Funding to Heatlh Care."

An interview with Eberhard Grube, one of Germany's leading interventional cardiologists and a pioneer in medical devices who's had a role in changing the mindset of European physicians to bring together clinical practice and new product development. Grube discusses the role of the physician as clinical investigator, and the European perspective on product development.

Less than 50% of coronary artery disease is attributable to the known risk factors-such as smoking, obesity, diabetes, family history of heart disease, and high cholesterol. That's why researchers and companies are beginning to take a close look at endothelial dysfunction, a disorder of the lining of the arteries that causes vessels to fail to expand normally in response to increased blood flow. Endothelial dysfunction is widely recognized in the clinical community as the earliest detectable harbinger of heart disease, one that would help physicians address patients before they have their first heart attack or stroke. But even more than that, many now see the disorder as a reversible condition that should be treated in its own right, to avoid the future deadly consequences of chronic inflammation, clot formation, plaque deposition, or plaque rupture. Because it's still early days for the field, Endomatrix Inc. has chosen a combination nutraceutical/pharmaceutical development path. It is getting early clinical experience in patients by testing and commercializing a proprietary dietary supplement, while at the same time developing new drugs that target endothelial dysfunction.