Cochlear Limited
 |
|
| Public | |
| Traded as | ASX: COH |
| Industry | Biotechnology |
| Founded | 1981 |
| Headquarters | Sydney, Australia |
|
Key people
|
Dr Chris Roberts (CEO) Rick Holliday-Smith (Chairman) |
| Products | Cochlear implants |
| Revenue |  A$752 million (2013) [1] |
| A$136 million (2013) [1] |
|
|
Number of employees
|
2,700 in 25 countries (2013)[1] |
| Website | www.cochlear.com |
Cochlear (ASX: COH) is a global biotechnology company that designs, manufactures and supplies the Nucleus cochlear implant, the Hybrid electro-acoustic implant and the Baha bone conduction implant.[2]
Based in Sydney, Cochlear was formed in 1981 with finance from the Australian government to commercialise the implants pioneered by Dr Graeme Clark.[3][4] Today, the company holds over two-thirds of the worldwide hearing implant market,[5][6] with more than 250,000 people receiving one of Cochlear's implants since 1982.[2]
Cochlear was named Australia's most innovative company in 2002 and 2003,[7] and one of the world's most innovative companies by Forbes in 2011.[8]
Products[edit]
Cochlear produces three implants for different medical situations.
Nucleus is a system combining an electrical simulation device that is surgically implanted behind a patient's ear, a processor that captures sounds, and an electrode array that relays the sounds to the brain.[2][9] It is a direct descendant of the original cochlear implants, also known as Nucleus, developed by Dr Graeme Clark in Melbourne during the 1970s.[3] Nucleus was the first cochlear implant to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.[10] The system is upgradable, for example by installing a new sound processor, without surgery.[2] Cochlear's latest processor, Nucleus 6, was launched in 2013 after six years of development.[11] In 2013, the Nucleus implant recorded 99% reliability over the last 8 years, more than any similar product.[12]
Hybrid is an electro-acoustic system combining a cochlear implant with an acoustic hearing aid, suitable for patients who have residual hearing at low frequencies.[13] The implant of the Hybrid system is a smaller variant of Nucleus, with an electrode that relays only high frequency sounds,[13] while the acoustic component amplifies low frequency sounds and transmits them to the brain through the ordinary nerve pathway.[2] Hybrid was launched in 2008 and won Australian Engineering Excellence and International Design Awards in 2009.[13]
Baha (derived from bone anchored hearing aid) is a bone conduction system involving a small titanium implant that is ossointegrated with the bone behind a patient's ear.[2] A sound processor captures sounds, which is passed to the implant and directly transferred to the inner ear through the skull.[2][14] Baha was originally produced by Swedish biotechnology group Entific Medical Systems before that company was acquired by Cochlear in 2005.[15]
Corporate Affairs[edit]
Cochlear manufactures principally in Sweden and Australia, including at a purpose-built facility at Macquarie University in Sydney.[16][17] The company's products are supplied to over 100 countries internationally, with annual sales of $297 million in the Americas, $285 million in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and $123 million in the Asia-Pacific as of 2012.[2] Cochlear spent $119.3 million on research and development in 2012.[2]
In 2011, reports arose of Nucleus model CI500 implants shutting down, although less than 1% of devices were affected and the failures posed no health risks.[18][19] Cochlear funded a complete recall of the model, with an older version of the Nucleus implant being available as a replacement.[18][19] The company spent $101.3 million on the recall.[20]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c "ASX and Media Release FY13 Results" (PDF).
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Annual report 2012". Cochlear. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ a b "History: Who developed the cochlear implant and why?". Powerhouse Museum. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "History". Cochlear. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "Australia's Cochlear plans to return implant to market". Reuters. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "Questions mount over Cochlear's top status". 9 News. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "Cochlear named most innovative company". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "Most innovative growth companies". Forbes. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "The cochlear implant". Powerhouse Museum. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "Cochlear implants technical report". American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "Hearing company Cochlear stakes growth on new range". Herald Sun. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "Cochlear Nucleus Reliability Report 2013". Cochlear. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ a b c "Cochlear Hybrid hearing system 2008". Powerhouse Museum. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "Baha implant". University of Maryland Medical Center. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "Cochlear buys into Sweden". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "New technologies push growth of Cochlear". BioSpectrum Asia. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "Cochlear 'well placed for growth trend'". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ a b "Hearing aid company's shares drop sharply as Cochlear recalls product". News Limited. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ a b "Cochlear shares plummet on product recall". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "Cochlear reports $77.7m H1 profit as it recovers from recall". The Australian. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
