Hutchinson Tech gets FDA approval for medical device
Terry Fiedler
Star Tribune
Published Jan 22 2002
Hutchinson Technology Inc., known for making components for computer disk drives, is branching out into the medical device business.
The company, based in Hutchinson, Minn., said Monday that it has received Food and Drug Administration approval to market its InSpectra Tissue Spectrometer, a noninvasive device that measures oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in skeletal muscle tissue. Hutchinson Technology expects to begin selling the device in the first half of this year.
The product was in development for seven years and, according to a company spokesman, is analogous to the tricorder that Dr. McCoy used to take the crew's vital signs on "Star Trek." The Inspectra uses non-contact measurement technology and other technology that Hutchinson developed for its main business of making suspension assemblies for disk drives.
The medical device won't have a material financial impact this fiscal year ending in September, the company said. The InSpectra produces a measurement that wasn't available before, and now the company must convince the medical community of that measurement's worth.
Hutchinson recorded revenue of $401.2 million for the year ended Sept. 30. The company reports its fiscal first quarter results today and is expected to turn in its first profitable quarter since the first quarter of fiscal 2001.
-- Terry Fiedler is at tfiedler@startribune.com .
© Copyright 2002 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. |
