Health care giant Roche Holding AG, of Basel, Switzerland, has acquired Seattle-based Stratos Genomics Inc., an early-stage sequencing technology company, in a move aimed at advancing development of Roche’s nanospore sequencer. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

HHS projects national daily COVID-19 testing needs at 300,000, but Democrats unimpressed

The Department of Health and Human Services has posted a national COVID-19 testing strategy in response to legislation passed in April, and the plan suggests that 300,000 tests per day should suffice to corral the pandemic. That calculation drew immediate fire from a quartet of House and Senate Democrats, who characterized the plan as an attempt “to paint a rosy picture about testing,” while pushing the Senate to pass House legislation that would expand federal deficit spending by $3 trillion, a proposal that is as controversial as the Trump administration’s testing plan.

Fineheart successfully completes clinical study of its implantable device for treating severe heart failure

PARIS – Fineheart SA, of Bordeaux, France, reported the success of a seven-day preclinical study to evaluate its Implantable Cardiac Output Management System (ICOMS), the first fully Intra-Ventricular Flow Accelerator synchronized to the native heartbeat to restore natural heart pumping capacity. “Following multiple short-term studies conducted over years of development, this first long-term study confirms promising results for the ICOMS in overcoming many of the challenges associated with LVADs currently on the market,” Arnaud Mascarell, CEO and co-founder of Fineheart, told BioWorld.

Impedimed unveils software package for Sozo, sees big sales agreements

Although many companies have experienced challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, Brisbane, Australia, and Carlsbad, Calif.-based Impedimed Ltd. has seen success with Sozo, the company’s digital health platform. The company has as one of its priorities helping patients with lymphedema with the platform, which is a noninvasive bioimpedance spectroscopy device. It aids in the assessment of secondary lymphedema, delivering a precise snapshot of fluid status and tissue composition in less than 30 seconds. “There are approximately a million newly diagnosed cancers every year that … put ... patients at high risk of developing lymphedema of either their arms or their legs. This is due to their cancer treatment,” Rick Carreon, managing director and CEO of the company, told BioWorld.

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