Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) has released a new set of software updates designed to protect hundreds of thousands of pacemakers from hacking. Part of the updates will also protect the heart implants against dangerous battery depletions.
Hack-Battery Depletion Concerns
The software patches are in response to U.S health regulators raising concerns about the safety risks of the device early this year. The regulator criticized the company over its handling of the matter over concerns that hacks could cause the device to drain batteries at dangerously high rates leading to life threatening scenarios.
Abbott Laboratories went on to discover a separate problem on the lithium batteries powering the pacemakers. St Jude which the company acquired for $23.6 billion was forced to recall some 400,000 heart devices last year due to premature battery depletion concerns. The problem has already been linked to two deaths in Europe.
Software Update
Doctors will now get a warning should batteries run to dangerously low levels thanks to the new software updates. The company has also enhanced the security features of the Implantable cardioverter defibrillators to protect them from unauthorized access.
“This firmware update provides an additional layer of security against unauthorized access to these devices that further reduces the potential for a successful Cybersecurity attack,” Abbott said in the letter.
The Food and Drug Administration has already approved the new software updates after warning the company, in conjunction with the Department Homeland Security, that the devices were vulnerable to hacking. The two had however suggested that the benefits of continuing to use the pacemakers significantly outweighed the cyber risks given that only high skilled hackers could tamper with them.
Abbot is now asking doctors to discuss with patients about the need to administer the software updates instead of having to replace the pacemaker as a whole. 465,000 implanted pacemakers are currently eligible for the new software updates. Abbott Laboratories plans to incorporate the software updates to any new devices prior to them going on sell.
Separately, Abbott Laboratories has donated $1 million to the victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas. The fund is made up of $900,000 on grants and $100,000 in healthcare and nutrition products.
Shares of Abbott Laboratories were down by 0.22% in Tuesday’s trading session to end the day at $50.15 a share.