Corwave SA raised €26 million (US$28 million) in the second close of its series C funding round taking the total amount to €61 million. The funds will go toward the industrial development of the company’s facilities as well as entry into clinical trials for its heart pump, the Corwave LVAD, which is based on its wave membrane biomimetic technology, inspired by the undulating movement of marine animals.
Anumana Inc. has garnered a U.S. FDA breakthrough device designation for its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered electrocardiogram-based algorithm for early identification of cardiac amyloidosis. The ECG-AI detection algorithm is the fourth from the company and its partners to notch breakthrough status.
The Vanta device by Medtronic plc, provides relief from pain for thousands of patients, but the Vanta might also feel the pain when the patient is undergoing cardioversion. According to a field safety notice from Dublin-based Medtronic, two patients in Europe have undergone explant procedures for the device due to damage sustained during cardioversion, but the company urges physicians to pay heed to the labeled indication, which recommends that the device be temporarily reprogrammed to reduce the risk of damage to the device, an action that Medtronic indicated should ward off any such issues.
Boston Scientific Corp. said that three-year primary patency and the four-year freedom from target lesion revascularization (TLR) rate for patients treated with the Ranger drug-coated balloon (DCB), in the Ranger II superficial femoral artery (SFA) study, are the best ever reported data for randomized trials using DCBs.
Surmodics Inc. is poised to jump on the market for below the knee thrombectomy now that its Pounce platform with a low-profile (LP) model has FDA 510(k) clearance. The system can now effectively clear organized clots from vessels as small as 2 mm in diameter. The Pounce LP expands the Eden Prairie, Minn.-based company’s “grab-go-flow” platform. In its first iteration, Pounce enabled removal of thrombi and emboli in peripheral arteries 3.5 mm to 6 mm in diameter.
GE Healthcare Technologies Inc. has launched Sonic DL, a deep learning technology designed to significantly accelerate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exams, after receiving regulatory clearance from the U.S. FDA.
Pulse Medical Technology Inc. obtained breakthrough device designation from the FDA for its fourth generation μFR system, which would accelerate the commercialization of the device. “The fourth generation μFR system is currently not available on the market, but Pulse Medical is preparing for the marketing approval of the product in the U.S.,” Jingfeng Han, director of science division at Pulse Medical, told BioWorld.
The U.S. FDA has given the greenlight to Sparrow Acoustics Inc. (dba Sparrow Bioacoustics) for its Stethophone, a software-based technology that allows doctors and nurses to check a patient’s heart and lung sounds using a smartphone. Providers simply hold the smartphone against the patient’s chest to listen for possible abnormalities.
Conformal Medical Inc. plugged the gap in funding needed to complete enrollment in the pivotal CONFORM trial for its left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) technology with completion of an oversubscribed $35 million series D fundraising round. The Conformal left atrial appendage seal (CLAAS) system is designed to close off the left atrial appendage in individuals with non-valvular atrial fibrillation to cut the risk of stroke and avoid the use of anticoagulants.
The U.S. FDA reported a class I recall for a subset of the Impella 5.5 with Smartassist due to leakage of purge fluid from a pump sidearm that could ultimately lead to a loss of pump function. Abiomed Inc., the maker of the device, had previously introduced corrective measures intended to suppress the problem with leakage, but those corrections have not completely resolved the problem, leading to the withdrawal of 466 units that were distributed in the U.S. between Sept. 8, 2021, and March 6, 2023.