The move away from in-clinic testing continues, with another company offering a convenient, at-home sensor that gathers critical health information without requiring any change on the part of the patient, which may provide even more accurate, real-world data on patient health than the tests they replace.

Even though Cytokinetics Inc. received applause for testing its heart failure drug, omecamtiv mecarbil, in the second largest global heart disease clinical trial ever, the drug didn’t get a standing ovation from the U.S. FDA’s Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee (CRDAC) Dec. 13.

Boston Scientific Corp. offered $523 million in cash for 65% of Acotec Scientific Holdings Ltd., a manufacturer of vascular intervention devices. The acquisition would significantly expand Boston Scientific’s presence in China, which the company expects to account for about 25% of the global med-tech market by the end of the decade. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2023, subject to shareholder approval. The offer price of HK$20 or US$2.57 per share represents a premium of more than 31% over its close on Friday, Acotec reported.

What could be Cytokinetics Inc.’s first approved drug will take center stage Dec. 13 at a meeting of the U.S. FDA’s Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee. But judging from the FDA’s briefing document for the meeting, the spotlight on the heart failure drug, omecamtiv mecarbil, could be harsh.

The ability to inexpensively predict events such as stroke and heart attack is something of a holy grail for cardiologists, and a new study presented at this year’s annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North American (RSNA) provides just that capability. A study of an algorithm developed to examine a single chest X-ray suggests that the data generated by the algorithm can be as effective in establishing the patient’s risk of these events as a standard approach that relies on information that isn’t always readily available to the clinician.

Endologix LLC reported 12-month results from the second of two studies of a fully percutaneous, transmural arterial bypass therapy for treating peripheral arterial disease. Presented at this month's annual Vascular Interventional Advances Conference in Las Vegas, the Detour-2 study revealed technical success in 100% of treated patients using the system which also surpassed a 30-day, major adverse event rate of just 7%.”

Jiangsu Bioda Life Science Co. Ltd.’s artificial blood vessel has gained class III medical devices approval from China’s NMPA, marking the first domestic artificial blood vessel to get such approval. Nantong, China-based Bioda’s vessel is used for aortic coarctation and aneurysms.