Medtrace Pharma A/S raised $30 million in a series B round to ramp its platform for production, infusion and analysis of ¹⁵O-water in medical imaging. Swiss-based Swisscanto Invest, along with fund managers ATP and Bankinvest group from Denmark, are the lead investors. “We can now ramp our European and U.S. expansions plans in myocardial perfusion imaging and in other indications in need of perfusion data,” Martin Stenfeldt, CEO and co-founder of Medtrace, told BioWorld.

The European Commission (EC) unveiled on Monday its new joint implementation and preparedness plan for the European Union’s In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR). It sets forth priority actions, noting “the implementation of the IVDR has proven to be a very challenging task,” exacerbated in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic “despite the efforts undertaken by all” to transition.

Precipio Inc. reported the launch of its Hemescreen anemia panel, part of a suite of diagnostic tests that run on the Hemescreen physician office laboratory (POL) testing system. The new panel is intended to help physicians tackle a difficult challenge – deciphering anemias of unknown cause.

HONG KONG – Singapore authorities have given provisional approval for a locally developed breath test for COVID-19. The test is developed by Breathonix Pte Ltd., a spin-off company from the National University of Singapore through its Graduate Research Innovation Program. The company said its Brefence Go COVID-19 breath test system was the first test of its kind to secure provisional authorization in Singapore.

The European Commission unveiled its third alternative to providing global access to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments just ahead of the June 8 meeting of the World Trade Organization’s Council for Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and the start of the G7 summit.

Grail Inc. reported on June 4 the first results of its Pathfinder study evaluating its assay for the early detection of 50 cancers, showing a positive predictive value of 44.6%. With a total of 6,629 study participants across more than 140 clinical study sites, the blood test is supported by what the health care company believes to be the “largest clinical study program in genomic medicine.”

The American Society for Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) virtual annual meeting began June 3 with the release of late-breaking abstracts, including LBA-1 on “Olympia: A phase 3, multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of adjuvant olaparib after (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with germline BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations and high risk HER2-negative primary breast cancer.”

A first-of-its-kind blood test that can detect whether cancer is absent, imminent, or present in different stages is on its way to the market. This is a claim made by brothers Ashish Tripathi and Anish Tripathi, who lead Singapore-based molecular diagnostic company Tzar Labs Pte. Ltd. and Mumbai-based Epigeneres Biotechnology Pvt. Ltd., respectively.

With the U.S. launch of the first deployable airborne COVID-19 detection system, Bioflyte Inc. is working to provide effective ways to sample the air and deliver results within an hour. The Sentinel integrated solution aims to prevent widespread infection in schools and workplaces.

With the rollout of its Avagen test, Avellino Lab USA Inc. hopes to see a significant change in the diagnosis and management of keratoconus, a common cause of blindness. The test quantifies the risk of keratoconus and definitively diagnoses other corneal dystrophies, which are frequently misdiagnosed or undiagnosed until late in their development, when treatment is less effective and vision already impaired.