An intellectual property collaboration between the Mayo Clinic and Boston Scientific to speed the development of new medical devices was announced with fanfare last year: The two parties promised to create innovative solutions to “pressing medical problems” with funds made available thanks to a two-year suspension of the 2.3 percent federal medical device tax.
At the top of the list of touted projects was a new type of catheter designed to allow heart surgeons to become much more efficient when performing aortic valve replacements. Now, in a sign of progress for the collaboration, the company and the clinic have jointly filed a patent application for the new device.
