PERTH, Australia – Mesoblast Ltd. plans to evaluate remestemcel-L in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by coronavirus (COVID-19) in the U.S., Australia, China and Europe.

As companies scramble to develop diagnostic tests and vaccines for COVID-19, there is a need for effective treatments for patients suffering severe respiratory effects from the novel coronavirus. To that end, Beyond Air Inc., of Garden City, N.Y., and Rehovot, Israel, has applied to the U.S. FDA to conduct an IDE trial of its inhaled nitric oxide (NO) system, Lungfit Bro, in COVID-19 patients.

LONDON – Behold.ai Ltd. has secured U.S. FDA 510(k) approval for use of its Red Dot image recognition algorithm in the automatic diagnosis of life-threatening pneumothorax (collapsed lung). The product completes the analysis immediately, sending an alert to the radiologist as soon as an X-ray is taken. “It does in 30 seconds what would normally take up to 30 minutes,” said Simon Rasalingham, CEO of London-based Behold.ai.

Mallinckrodt plc is engaging with the U.S. FDA, NIH and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to address the potential use of its INOmax (nitric oxide) inhaled gas to treat COVID-19-associated lung complications. INOmax is marketed in the U.S. by the Staines-upon-Thames, U.K.-based company to treat full- and near-term neonates with hypoxic respiratory failure associated with pulmonary hypertension.