The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is taking aim at the shortage of medical services with a program designed to foster development of micro-robots, or microbots, which will autonomously conduct part or all of a variety of surgical procedures.

Abbott Laboratories made plans to enter the cancer screening market with its reported acquisition of Exact Sciences Corp. The deal will pay Exact Sciences shareholders $105 per share in cash, a nearly 50% premium to Exact’s unaffected share price on Nov. 19. That represents a total equity value of approximately $21 billion and an estimated enterprise value of $23 billion.

U.S. and European organ-on-a-chip specialty biotechnology companies are driving development of organ-on-a-chip technologies, fueled by the U.S. FDA’s decision to phase out animal testing for investigational new drugs.

A four-way interagency initiative in South Korea, started in 2020, is working to bolster funding for the local medical device industry and grow homegrown devices for the global market.

On Nov. 5, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce reported it would lift the export ban on Illumina Inc., which had been in place since March 4. While the ban will be lifted starting Nov. 10, Illumina remains on the unreliable entities list, requiring government approval for instrument purchases.

Medline Inc. filed a public S1 with the SEC Oct. 28, moving the IPO first signaled in December 2024 closer to reality. The Northfield, Ill.-based medical supply distributor did not disclose the number of shares to be offered or their price, but Renaissance Capital expects the IPO to raise about $5 billion, which would make it the largest in any industry this year and one of the largest ever in med tech. Billiontoone Inc. also advanced its IPO, as it began the road show for its public debut in early November.

Vertebral compression fractures are one of the more obvious signs of osteoporosis but can be difficult to diagnose, one of several reasons the U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has given the nod to five AI products that can improve rapid detection of these fractures.

Edap TMS SA signed a €36 million (US$42 million) multi-tranche credit facility with the European Investment Bank, with the first tranche of €11 million expected to be disbursed in early November. The funds will be used to strengthen the company’s balance sheet to support the continued expansion of its Focal One high-intensity focused ultrasound technology in focal therapy and accelerate the development of new clinical indications.

While positive results from the investigator-led phase II CHOPIN trial at the 2025 European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Annual Congress being held in Berlin failed to get investors dancing, they were no doubt music to management’s ears, particularly with Delcath Systems Inc.’s third quarter earnings report missing a beat.

Histosonics Inc. signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Gunze Medical Ltd. to bring its novel histotripsy-based therapeutic model, the Edison System, to Japan. The strategic alliance with Gunze Medical, a wholly owned subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Gunze Ltd., paves a figurative runway for Histosonics to introduce its Edison platform in Japan — one of Asia’s largest medical device markets.