The North American Spine Society Annual Meeting provided a positive view of one area in orthopedics that may be immune from the effects of widespread use of GLP-1 medications. Recent data indicates volumes and seasonality have finally recovered from pandemic impacts. Major trends discussed at the conference included expanded use of robotic systems, increased customization and adoption of augmented reality technology.

The U.S. FDA’s draft rule for regulation of lab-developed tests (LDTs) was a long time in coming, much longer than any legislative proposals to overhaul the agency’s regulatory mechanisms for these tests. Nonetheless, Scott Whitaker, president and CEO of the Advanced Medical Technology Association (Advamed), believes that the FDA draft rule is likely to prompt Congress to pass the Verifying Accurate, Leading-edge IVCT development (VALID) Act, a development that would truncate an FDA final rule that would almost certainly face litigation.