Andera Partners involvement in a string of recent deals in the cardiovascular space demonstrates the ongoing appetite for devices to treat heart diseases, Olivier Litzka, a partner at Andera Partners told BioWorld.

There is no evidence to support the differences in prices that the U.K.’s national health service (NHS) is paying for transcatheter heart valves from Abbott Laboratories, Boston Scientific Corp., Edwards Lifesciences Corp. and Medtronic plc, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Minneapolis-based Smiths Medical Inc., recalled two entries in the company’s CADD-Solis line of ambulatory infusion pumps due to problems with the preloaded software.

Medtronic plc looks to establish a moat around its diabetes pump position with an exclusive global partnership with Abbott Laboratories to develop a Freestyle Libre-based CGM that works with Medtronic’s smart dosing devices and insulin pump.

Lest there’s any confusion, Lucid Diagnostics Inc. published promising results from a third study showing the benefit of its non-invasive Esoguard test for detecting esophageal cancer and precancer conditions.

The U.S. Medicare program’s final rule for fiscal year 2025 inpatient care retains several controversial proposals, but some device makers fared well in their new technology add-on payment (NTAP) applications, including Dublin-based Medtronic plc, which won NTAP payments for two devices.

The first economic modelling of Boston Scientific Corp.’s pulsed field ablation system in U.K.’s National Health Service showed that it is more cost-effective as a treatment for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation compared to standard cryoablation.

The draft version of the U.S. Medicare hospital outpatient rule for 2025 carries more than a dozen applications for a new technology pass-through payment next year, but Boston Scientific Corp.’s Agent balloon for treatment of in-stent restenosis might not be eligible for NTPT payment because of a debate over whether the device can be assigned to an existing Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System code.

In an action two years in the making, Dublin-based Medtronic plc withdrew a series of endotracheal tubes because of complaints of lost functionality that carries the risk of respiratory and/or cardiac arrest.

Endoron Medical Ltd. raised $10 million in its series A funding round to accelerate clinical validation work on its catheter-based endostapling system, Aortoseal, which repairs abdominal aortic aneurysms. The round was led by Sofinnova Partners, with participation from the European Innovation Council Fund.