Carag AG received investigational device exemption (IDE) approval from the U.S. FDA for its Carag Bioresorbable Septal Occluder (CBSO). The device is the first transcatheter septal occluder with a nonmetal, bioresorbable framework. The Baar, Switzerland-based company plans a "swift start" for a staged study trial in the U.S. with 250 patients, Carag's CEO Jérôme Bernhard told BioWorld.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) posted the much-anticipated draft do-over of the mitral valve repair device coverage memo, and in the process renamed the policy the mitral valve transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) national coverage memo.

Protaryx Medical has picked up $8.3 million to develop its device for precision transseptal access to the left atrium for use during structural heart and catheter ablation procedures. The funding includes nondilutive grants and a seed round totaling $3.2 million, as well as the recently closed $5.1 million series A financing led by Ajax Health, with participation from returning investor University of Maryland (UM) Ventures.

The U.S. FDA has greenlighted Ancora Heart Inc.’s IDE request to conduct the Corcinch-HF pivotal clinical trial. The study is intended to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of the Accucinch ventricular restoration system in patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).