Dive Brief:
- To ensure patient safety, St. Jude Medical said it is creating a medical advisory board to focus on cybersecurity around connected medical devices.
- Outside researchers and St. Jude technology experts will work with the board to “maintain and enhance cyber security and patient safety,” said St. Jude Chief Medical Officer Mark Carlson.
- The move follows allegations by investment firm Muddy Waters Capital and cybersecurity research firm MedSec that St. Jude heart devices are vulnerable to cyberattacks.
Dive Insight:
The new cyber panel will seek feedback from leading physicians on patient management concerns related to St. Jude devices. St. Jude says the goal is to balance technological improvements aimed at reducing cyber vulnerabilities with the needs of patients who are using medical devices.
Muddy Waters issued a report in August saying St. Jude was short-selling the device company’s stock based on defects identified by MedSec that made St. Jude cardiac devices vulnerable to hacking. That triggered an investigation by the FDA.
St. Jude denied the allegations and it filed a lawsuit in September against Muddy Waters and MedSec for publicly alleging that its devices were vulnerable to cyber hacks and selling short its stock to manipulate the market. Muddy Waters and MedSec have argued that they went public with their finding because St. Jude has a poor history of responding to security concerns.