Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Hosts 20th Annual Medical Device Conference
On June 21, 2012, the firm hosted its 20th Annual Medical Device Conference, at which a variety of industry experts addressed topics of critical importance to medical device companies.
The event kicked off with a dinner in Menlo Park on the evening of June 20 that featured a conversation with Michael Mussallem, the chairman and chief executive officer of Edwards Lifesciences, a global leader in the science of heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring. Michael discussed the evolution of Edwards Lifesciences during his tenure, beginning with the company's spin-off from Baxter International in 2000 and continuing with its growth into the highly successful enterprise it is today. David Cassak, vice president of content and managing director of medical devices for Elsevier Business Intelligence, moderated the discussion.
The conference took place in San Francisco the following day, with more than 550 executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and in-house counsel from medical device companies in attendance. In a series of panels presented over the course of the daylong event, industry CEOs, venture capitalists and other investors, industry strategists, investment bankers, and market analysts addressed such topics as venture and debt financing strategies, the complexities of commercializing medical device products in China, best practices for physician payments, patent due diligence, grant funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense, recent changes to U.S. patent laws, and the current market for med-tech M&A and IPO transactions.
In addition, the event's lunch session featured an interview with representatives from Bard, a leading multinational developer of innovative medical technologies in the fields of vascular, urology, oncology, and surgical specialty products, and Lutonix, an early-stage medical technology company developing a proprietary drug-eluting balloon. The discussion, which was moderated by David Cassak, included David Gottlieb, Bard's senior vice president of strategy and business development, and Dr. Dennis W. Wahr, Lutonix's co-founder and former president and CEO, who discussed Bard's recent $225 million (plus milestone payments) acquisition of Lutonix and explored Bard's increasingly active business development strategy. The conference closed with a wine-tasting reception that featured local venture capitalists serving as sommeliers.
For more information, please see the complete 2012 Medical Device Conference agenda.
