TORONTO – Several U.S. and Canadian patients have recently undergone successful mitral valve surgery featuring a platform designed by Toronto-based Baylis Medical Inc. to provide more precise access to the wall separating the left and right sides of the heart. Robert Harrison, Baylis's director of research and development for cardiology, said in addition to locating the precise puncture point for mitral valve reconstruction, the Versacross transseptal solution has reduced the number of devices exchanged during the procedure to an all-in-one platform.

Angiodynamics Inc., of Latham, N.Y., is picking up Rehovot, Israel-based Eximo Medical Ltd. for $46 million up front and up to $20 million of contingent consideration related to certain technical and revenue milestones. Eximo offers laser atherectomy technology that is in a limited launch.

Radiation reduction during imaging procedures is a top priority for hospitals and health care providers. Startup Controlrad Inc. has raised a $15 million series B round to market its Trace mobile C-arm radiation reduction technology for use during fluoroscopically guided procedures. That has already been FDA cleared.

Lisle, Ill.-based Endotronix Inc. scooped up $70 million in an expanded series D funding round led by Life Science Partners. The funds will support the company's PROACTIVE-HF IDE clinical trial of the Cordella Pulmonary Artery Sensor System and further commercialization of the Cordella Heart Failure (HF) System.

Looking to help patients requiring imaging of lungs or other internal structures, researchers from the NIH and Siemens Healthineers AG, of Erlangen, Germany, have developed a high-performance, low magnetic-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system that also could prove safer for those with pacemakers or defibrillators.

Abbott Laboratories had a busy Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2019 conference. Among the news it generated was the unveiling of new analyses of the COAPT trial on the cost-effectiveness of Mitraclip vs. guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) alone in heart failure patients with secondary mitral regurgitation (MR).

SAN FRANCISCO – Abbott Laboratories expects that its self-expanding transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) system Portico will be able to become a top competitive product. A pivotal trial of Portico has found that the implant is noninferior to current FDA-approved TAVR systems that are marketed in the U.S. The results from the 750-patient, randomized trial were presented here last week at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference.

SAN FRANCISCO – As the transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) field matures, it is becoming increasingly difficult to develop a new implant that can distinguish itself vs. competitors. The incremental benefits are narrowing rapidly, making it tough to distinguish new iterations from one another using standard, randomized trials.