Standing as one of the more prominent among incurable conditions, Parkinson’s disease (PD) still hasn’t met a medicine or surgical intervention that can slow or stop progression, despite efforts of many drug developers testing new strategies.

They call it the world's “first fully integrated wearable” ultrasound system for evaluating cardiovascular function while you walk, run, even ride a bicycle. Built on the nanoengineering research at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) the wearable ultrasonic system-on-patch (USoP) employs machine learning to interpret deep tissue vital signs data and track subjects in motion.

The French national authority for health (HAS) has provisionally set up CEDiag, a committee for assessing diagnostic, prognostic or predictive health technologies. This new national committee will cover the field of clinical procedures, including radiology, clinical biology and anatomo-cytopathology examinations, diagnostic drugs such as contrast agents used in medical imaging and radiopharmaceutical drugs, as well as medical devices such as self-testing kits.

The U.S. FDA has given the greenlight to Sparrow Acoustics Inc. (dba Sparrow Bioacoustics) for its Stethophone, a software-based technology that allows doctors and nurses to check a patient’s heart and lung sounds using a smartphone. Providers simply hold the smartphone against the patient’s chest to listen for possible abnormalities.

In the flurry of presentations on early detection of cancer at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, Grail LLC stood out for the number of sessions and the strength of its results. In a real-world study presented, Grail’s Galleri multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test cancer signal origin (CSO) demonstrated accuracy of 91%.

Creo Medical Group plc says it is poised to address the mismatch between the advances in screening technology, which are making it possible to detect early-stage lung cancer, and the current invasive and inappropriate methods of treating it, following the first-in-human use of its Microblate Flex microwave ablation device.

The 2023 American Society for Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting featured several notable developments on the diagnostics side, including significant advances in multi-cancer early detection (MCED). Grail Inc. presented its results from SYMPLIFY, the first major study of its MCED test in symptomatic patients. The test showed a negative predictive value of more than 97% and a positive predictive value that exceeded 75% in individuals who presented to primary care with non-specific symptoms that prompted a referral for cancer evaluation.

Avacta Group plc has continued its growth through M&A strategy with the acquisition of Coris Bioconcept Sprl, a developer of rapid diagnostic test kits, for an up-front cash consideration of £7.4 million (US$9.3 million). The Coris deal comes on the back of its £24 million purchase of Launch Diagnostics Holdings Ltd last year, as Avacta works on building up its diagnostics division.

α-Synucleinopathies constitute a set of neurological disorders including Parkinson’s disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies, multiple systems atrophy (MSA), and other rare disorders. The development of positron emission tomography (PET) tracers for imaging α-synuclein aggregates is essential for performing efficient and accurate diagnosis, tracking disease progression and monitoring efficacy of potential therapies.

Wesper Inc., a longitudinal and wireless clinical-grade sleep testing platform, showed ‘exceptional accuracy’ in a head-to-head comparison with polysomnography in a study published in The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. The wireless, longitudinal sleep testing platform had a breathtaking 95% correlation with the cumbersome gold standard test for sleep apnea.