A start-up rival to Illumina Inc. has emerged from stealth mode, debuting a new low-cost gene sequencing platform, the UG 100. Ultima Genomics Inc. has raised approximately $600 million from investors including General Atlantic, Andreessen Horowitz, D1 Capital and Khosla Ventures to scale development of the whole-genome sequencing, single-cell sequencing technology. Initial data using the platform to sequence more than 200 human genomes will be presented at the upcoming Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) conference.

The U.S. FDA’s approval, in recent years, of new medicines that can fight certain drug-resistant bugs makes it possible to conduct noninferiority trials of potential antibacterial therapies in patients with infections caused by those bugs since active controls are now available.

Just in case the U.S. FDA didn’t get the message from its advisory committee about drug applications based solely on clinical trial data from China, a trio of U.S. lawmakers wrote to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf to voice their concerns about the “current ‘East to West’ movement of clinical data” to support the approval of me-too drugs.

Just in case the U.S. FDA didn’t get the message from its advisory committee about drug applications based solely on clinical trial data from China, a trio of U.S. lawmakers wrote to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf to voice their concerns about the “current ‘East to West’ movement of clinical data” to support the approval of me-too drugs.

Abbott Laboratories Inc. reported 30-day results from its Triclip Bright Study at the EuroPCR meeting in Paris on May 19. The real-world outcomes showed that the company’s tricuspid repair systems Triclip and Triclip G4 transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) significantly reduced tricuspid regurgitation (TR) and substantially improved the quality of life across a wide range of anatomically diverse patients.

Jenavalve Technology Inc. presented first real-world data for a study evaluating the safety and efficacy of its Jenavalve Trilogy transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) system for the treatment of severe aortic regurgitation (AR). The data, presented at the EuroPCR meeting on May 18, met the primary safety and efficacy endpoints with no major adverse events and no moderate or severe AR at discharge.

Robocath SAS presented results from the R-Evolution European clinical study assessing the safety and efficacy of its R-One robot for coronary angioplasty procedures. The study, which included 62 patients across six European centers, met all three primary endpoints, showing 100% clinical success, >95% technical success, and 84.5% average reduction in physician radiation exposure.

Computational disease modeling company Cytoreason Ltd. is expanding its reach into Asia with a recent partnership with South Korean big data company Helixrus Inc., which is focused on biological big data and multiomics. The alliance will focus on leveraging Helixrus’ deep knowledge of the South Korean pharmaceutical market, and extensive network of relationships in Asian markets, to highlight Cytoreason’s capabilities in prioritizing new targets, finding biomarkers, profiling combinations, stratifying patients and other use cases within the drug lifecycle.

Citing the flexibilities implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bloomberg New Economy International Cancer Coalition is pushing to convert those improvements to a permanent paradigm shift in the way cancer patients are diagnosed, treated and cared for across the globe.