PERTH, Australia – Australian public health laboratories are collaborating to sequence the virus genomes of all positive COVID-19 tests in Australia to track the virus using genomics across the country. The Communicable Disease Genomics Network (CDGN) and Illumina Inc. will track COVID-19 by using next-generation genomic sequencing technology.

China’s provincial government for Hainan Province has two sets of medical devices going through the urgent medical device needs program, but leveraging this program for regulatory approval in China is still no small undertaking. One complication is that any real-world evidence gathered in Hainan might not suffice for nationwide regulatory approval, but patient recruitment is also difficult.

Precision oncology company Genetron Holdings Ltd. will help develop a liquid biopsy-based malignant tumor screening and early detection testing kit based on its mutation capsule technology.

HONG KONG – Technology took the front seat for a second day, at the 2020 KoNECT-MOHW-MFDS International Conference, with a discussion about the South Korean medical devices landscape attracting both criticism and praise.

PERTH, Australia – Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) said industry stakeholders supported making in vitro diagnostic (IVD) self-tests available for infectious diseases like influenza but self-tests for cancer and genetic testing for health-related purposes should continue to be prohibited from supply.

HONG KONG – Singapore-based Genesis Medtech International Pte. Ltd. has acquired the Chocolate Touch drug-coated balloon angioplasty asset from Pleasanton, Calif.-based Trireme Medical LLC. The drug-device technology asset in question is designed with the intention of providing a safer and more effective treatment for patients suffering from peripheral vascular disease, compared to traditional balloon angioplasty.

HONG KONG – Tokyo-based Cureapp Inc. has received the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW)’s green light to manufacture and sell Cureapp SC [Smoking Cessation] Nicotine Addiction Treatment App and CO Checker, its therapeutics app to aid patients who are quitting smoking.

An Australian study led by University of Melbourne scientists has identified a previously unknown role for the hepatokine, sparc-related modular calcium-binding protein 1 (SMOC1), in suppressing hepatic glucose production. The investigators reported their results in the Sept. 2, 2020, edition of Science Translational Medicine.

NEW DELHI – A COVID-19 diagnostic test kit developed by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi is the latest to join a growing pool of low-cost kits domestically developed in a country where the number of cases topped 2 million in August and continues to rise. The push to develop test kits domestically is part of a national effort to shake off a heavy dependence on imports of medical devices, including diagnostic kits.

PERTH, Australia – After its initial public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange, soft tissue regeneration company Aroa Biosurgery Ltd. has received new clearances in the U.S. and Europe and is focusing on building up its commercial and manufacturing capacity.