Europe was a bigger counterpart to China in pharmaceutical dealmaking than the U.S. last year, speakers at Chinabio Partnering Forum said April 23, and the trend is likely to continue in 2025 with the shuttering of U.S. capital and volatility ailing global markets.

Field Medical Inc. reaped $40 million in its series A fundraising via $20 million in new capital and conversion of $20 million in seed-round debt to support development of its next-generation pulsed field ablation technology. Field Medical’s Fieldforce ablation system targets ventricular tachycardia as its initial use, but also has a study in process for atrial fibrillation.

Sky Labs Inc. CEO and founder Jack Byunghwan Lee reported on plans to greatly expand the market for the company’s blood pressure monitor ring, including seeking regulatory approvals for the CART BP products in the U.S., Europe and Japan.

Receipt of EU MDR CE mark may not be a magic potion, but Elixir Medical Corp. is certainly feeling a boost from the regulatory nod for its mechanical Lithix hertz contact intravascular lithotripsy system for treatment of moderate to severely calcified coronary artery lesions. Simultaneously, the company reported the launch of Lithix and completion of first cases in Italy, France and Germany.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp.’s Sapien M3 secured CE mark for its Sapien M3 mitral valve replacement system for transfemoral treatment of patients with mitral valve disease who are ineligible for surgery or transcatheter edge-to-edge repair. Sapien M3 is indicated for individuals with symptomatic moderate-to-severe or severe mitral valve regurgitation.

The U.S. Medicare draft inpatient rule for fiscal 2026 discusses a number of coding proposals, although the agency seems disinclined to go along with a proposal to increase payment rates for TAVR devices by switching the procedures to a different diagnostic-related group.

Positive early stage data for Verve Therapeutics Inc.’s base editing therapy points to a range of development options, including bringing partner Eli Lilly and Co. in a little closer. The new data helped ease the company’s pain from the April 2 enrollment pause of a similarly designed therapy from Verve. Verve’s Heart-2 phase Ib of VERVE-102 in treating 14 patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia and/or premature coronary artery disease showed one infusion led to dose-dependent decreases in blood PCSK9 protein levels and low density lipoprotein cholesterol.

CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. has obtained clinical trial approval from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for SYH-2046 for heart failure after acute myocardial infarction.

Cardiovia Ltd.' Viaone epicardial access system received U.S. FDA clearance for treating cardiac arrhythmias. The device provides clinicians with a safe and minimally invasive technology to reach the heart’s outer surface, known as the pericardial space, without the need for a sharp needle, which can cause perforation.