(), based in
Fridley, Minnesota , is the
World 's largest
Medical Technology Company . Listed among
Fortune 500 companies, Medtronic is a
Publicly Traded company and is listed on the
New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MDT. The company was founded in
1949 by
Earl Bakken and
Palmer Hermundslie and is credited with manufacturing the first wearable
Artificial Pacemaker s. However, they started off with much more modest intentions, acting as a
Repair company, servicing medical equipment in local
Hospitals . Medtronic's main competitors for cardiac devices are
Guidant (now a division of Boston Scientific) and
St. Jude Medical .
Medtronic followed a path familiar to technology historians, starting in a
Garage in northern
Minneapolis . The company expanded through the
1950s , mostly selling equipment built by other companies, but some custom hardware was also developed. The employees eventually came to know Dr.
C. Walton Lillehei , a noted
Heart Surgeon who was then at the
University Of Minnesota . Dr. Lillehei was frustrated with the pacemakers of the day, which relied on
Wall Current to operate. This was extremely troublesome because
Power Outage s would cause patients to die.
Bakken built a small
Transistor ized pacemaker that could be strapped to the body and powered by
Batteries . Work into this new field continued, producing an
Implant able pacemaker in
1960 .
The company has continued to innovate in the medical business and is considered an
Economically -important company for
Minnesota . A key attribute in understanding the company is that it remains very focused on the mission originally written by co-founder
Earl Bakken in the early-
1960s . The first paragraph of the 6 paragraph mission statement reads:
''"To contribute to human welfare by application of biomedical engineering in the research, design, manufacture, and sale of instruments or appliances that alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life."''
Medtronic makes a wide array of implantable electronic devices, from the relatively common ICD or
Implantable Cardioverter-defibrillator , to devices for managing
Urinary Incontinence and
Obesity to name just a few.
is the
Diabetes management manufacturing and sales division of Medtronic based in Northridge, California. The original company
Minimed Technologies was founded in the early 1980s and spun-off from
Pacesetter Systems , in order to design a practical insulin pump for lifelong wear. Most devices at the time were either too large or impossible to program and extremely unreliable. The release of the lightweight, menu-driven MiniMed 500 series changed the landscape, and was a major factor in bringing pump usage to the mainstream. By the early 2000s Medtronic had bought out Minimed to form Medtronic Minimed.
Current models consist of the MiniMed Paradigm 522/722. It is the first Insulin Pump which integrates continuous glucose monitoring, allowing patients to see in real time their glucose level. As well as insulin pumps Medtronic Diabetes also makes Continuous Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems (CGMS) for use as a stand alone system or integrated into their Minimed Paradigm 522/722 series pumps. Medtronic Diabetes also makes a large range of accessories and components for their insulin pump and CGMS products.
As of March 2007 the MiniMed name has begun to be absorbed into the parent company, Medtronic. Medtronic has kept the MiniMed name to brand their insulin pumps, for example: The MiniMed Paradigm 722. Medtronic frequently uses Medtronic Diabetes as the name for the division, it is unclear to the extent the division will be integrated into Medtronic, as it still maintains its own website. Many products and marketing material still say Medtronic MiniMed, as the brand is being phased out.
