The U.S. FDA’s May 23 advisory hearing for the Shield test for colorectal cancer by Guardant Health Inc., included the expected debate over whether patients would abandon colonoscopy thanks to the advent of a new blood-based test. While much of that debate was fed by what some saw as the test’s poor performance regarding adenoma, the advisory committee voted 6-3 that the benefits outweigh the risks in a decision the FDA is likely to affirm.

At its investor presentation on May 22, Roche Diagnostics, a unit of Basel Switzerland-based Roche Holding AG reported on the company's pipeline plans, which include a slew of new tests, instrument upgrades, and the forthcoming launch of its fully automated mass spectrometry instrument.

Liquid biopsy typically means blood testing, but several companies presenting at Biomed Israel May 21-23 have developed diagnostics that look to other, even less invasive options, and ever broader applications. Nevia Bio Ltd. is using vaginal secretions to detect ovarian cancer, while Early OM Ltd. and Nucleix Ltd. analyze urine for cancer biomarkers.

The Surveillance Heartcare Outcomes Registry trial demonstrated that Caredx Inc.’s Heartcare test identifies acute cellular rejection in heart transplant patients better than donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA) alone, while reducing biopsies and improving clinical outcomes. Heartcare combines two non-invasive tests, dd-cfDNA and Allomap Heart gene-expression profiling.

Profound Medical Corp. received U.S. FDA 510(k) clearance for its second transurethral ultrasound ablation (TULSA) module using artificial intelligence. When used with Profound’s TULSA-Pro system, the Contouring assistant helps physicians more quickly and accurately segment prostate imaging and design treatments.

Medtronic plc teamed up with healthtech software company Modernizing Medicine Inc. (ModMed) to make colonoscopy procedures more efficient by integrating data generated from Medtronic’s GI Genius system into ModMed's gGastro EHR software to enhance endoscopic care.

The latest patent filing from Cranius LLC describes a reservoir for its implanted drug delivery devices which is shaped and formed to empty and fill reliably without any concern for neighboring organ impingement or compression, and which can precisely control and monitor exactly just how much of a medicine is being delivered.

It’s no surprise to hear that industry’s view of a device’s inherent risk differs from that of the U.S. FDA, a disparity that came to surface in a new citizen petition from Metaltronica SpA of Pomezia, Italy. The company petitioned the agency to down-classify digital breast tomosynthesis system to class II, a move that would align the risk classification with full-field digital mammography and ease the premarket path for future digital breast tomosynthesis applications.

This time a positive result for a cancer screening test brought good news, as Geneoscopy Inc. secured U.S. FDA approval for its RNA screening test for colorectal cancer. The agency based its decision on strong results from the phase III CRC-PREVENT trial in its approval of the noninvasive test for use in individuals aged 45 years and older with average risk for the disease.

Angle plc recently signed an agreement with Astrazeneca plc to develop an androgen receptor (AR) detection assay for use in prostate cancer studies, based on its Parsortix system, which captures and harvest circulating tumor cells for subsequent analysis.