LONDON – As the epicenter of the COVID-19 epidemic shifted to Europe and the number of deaths in Italy exceeded the toll in China, the EU stepped up efforts to mount a coordinated response, with a big boost for collaborative R&D funding and a call for clinical research to be pooled in multicenter, multi-arm randomized controlled trials.

Google sister company Verily Life Sciences LLC has been under an unprecedented amount of scrutiny since it was promoted over the weekend by President Donald Trump as responsible for a nationwide information and testing program for the emerging novel coronavirus.

Jerusalem-based Brainsway Ltd. had good news to report with the presentation of positive data from a multicenter study evaluating its deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (dTMS) system as an aid in smoking cessation.

Beta-O2 Technologies Ltd. plans to enroll its first patients in clinical trials for its second-generation bio-artificial pancreas, ßAir, in the coming months. The small, implantable titanium device has separate components that hold pancreatic cells and a rechargeable oxygen tank. Beta-O2 is based in Rosh-Haayin, Israel.

Novi, Mich.-based startup Delphinus Medical Technologies Inc. has been working for roughly a decade to introduce whole breast ultrasound tomography to improve breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Swiss researchers set out to identify and analyze vital sign data that could offer a window into predicting circulatory failure, which could enable more effective prevention of catastrophic events in the ICU.

An artificial intelligence (AI) platform developed by Naperville, Ill.-based Physiq Inc. gave researchers a mean of 10.4 days warning of an impending heart failure exacerbation that would require hospitalization or an emergency department visit, according to a study published in Circulation – Heart Failure.

New York and Rehovot, Israel-based in vitro diagnostics startup Todos Medical Ltd. is developing blood tests for the early detection of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Now the company is looking to apply the technology in diagnosing infections, including the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

Over the last few years, Wall Street has fervently embraced the largest diabetes technology companies, particularly those behind continuous glucose monitors, insulin pumps, and the automated closed loop systems that incorporate both to work together.

London-based Livanova plc has entered a collaboration with Verily Inc., an Alphabet company, to enrich data from its RECOVER trial using tools and analytics developed by Verily. The study, which kicked off last September, is assessing the effectiveness of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy for patients with difficult-to-treat depression (DTD).