Medtronic plc management put an emphasis on being nimble and commercializing novel technology at its investor day this week, and analysts appeared to approve of the message. As Wells Fargo’s Larry Biegelsen noted, Dublin-based Medtronic is moving away from a centralized company that is focused on economic value and margin expansion to one that is more decentralized, emphasizing innovation and topline growth.

Axon Therapies Inc. has developed an ablation system and method that treats the underlying problems in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), with an eye toward improving their quality of life.

A study blending intravascular ultrasound and near-infrared spectroscopy, presented at TCT Connect 2020, makes the argument that lipid-rich, nonobstructive lesions are responsible for most major adverse cardiac events after percutaneous treatment.

Spectrawave Inc. has named Eman Namati as its CEO with the charge of commercializing its flagship cardiac imaging technology. The 3-year-old, Bedford, Mass.-based medical imaging company has set an ambitious 24-month timeline for getting its photonic imaging technology for coronary artery disease into the clinic.

Medtronic plc has kicked off two clinical trials of its Evolut transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) system. One study will pit the self-expanding Evolut Pro and Pro+TAVR systems against Edwards Lifesciences Corp.’s balloon-expandable Sapien 3 and Sapien 3 Ultra transcatheter heart valves in small annulus patients.

Two teams of researchers have developed miniature models of the human heart that beat and function like the full-size organ. The team from Michigan State University (MSU) and Washington University in St. Louis developed a human heart organoid (hHO) that recapitulates embryonic heart development, providing an unmatched view into congenital heart defects. The organoid created by the researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and Clemson University mimics the tissue dysfunction that occurs following a heart attack.

San Carlos, Calif.-based Galaxy Medical Inc., which has developed pulsed electric field (PEF) technology for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, revealed the first treatments in the ECLIPSE-AF study, which is evaluating the Centauri system. The trial will assess the safety and efficacy of the Centauri as the company looks forward to obtaining a CE mark.

Biosense Webster Inc. reported U.S. FDA approval of its Thermocool Smarttouch SF ablation catheter for the treatment of patients with persistent atrial fibrillation (persistent AF). This follows results of the prospective, multicenter Precept study, which showed the catheter to be safe and effective for 80% of patients over 15 months of ablation therapy with clinically meaningful improvement in quality of life.

PERTH, Australia – Astrazeneca plc is leasing 175 Sozo devices from Impedimed Ltd. and plans to put them in 20 countries to run phase II trials for a combination drug that looks at fluid imbalance in the human body in patients with heart failure (HF) and chronic kidney disease.