Essilorluxottica SA received U.S. FDA clearance for its over-the-counter Nuance Audio Glasses, which combines sight and sound technologies, to help people improve their vision and hearing. The device also received a CE mark certification under the Medical Devices Regulation from the EU authorities.
The EU’s Medical Device Coordination Group issued a guidance on the types of products that qualify as in vitro diagnostics (IVDs), including some important distinctions even in instances in which a given analyte is the subject of two tests.
EMA approval of the Alzheimer’s disease therapy Leqembi (lecanemab) has stalled once again, after the European Commission did not as usual nod through the agency’s recommendation, but told it to examine safety data that have recently become available.
Tensive S.r.l. raised €14 million (US$14.5 million) in a series A financing round for its bio-absorbable breast implant Regenera, for patients undergoing reconstructive surgery after lumpectomy. The funds will be used to complete a pivotal clinical trial to evaluate the safety and performance of the technology.
A new guidance by the International Medical Device Regulators Forum for good machine learning practices draws heavily on a 2021 playbook provided by Canada, the U.K. and the U.S., an outcome that also supports the notion that there is no point in reinventing a highly functional regulatory wheel.
The five-year voluntary pricing deal between pharma companies and the U.K. Department of Health is under severe pressure after the rebate the industry is due to pay leapt from 15.3% in 2024 to 22.9% for 2025. That has put “a very real strain” on companies, which have not factored this into their 2025 budgets because they were planning around an agreed forecast that the 2025 rebate rate would remain at around 15%, according to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industries (ABPI).
Continuing a cascade of positive news for Stereotaxis Inc., the company reported the first order for its petite Genesisx robot in Europe. The system received CE mark in August, but management held off its launch until its Magic radiofrequency ablation catheter also received CE mark, which happened on Jan. 27. The two devices are used together to treat cardiac arrhythmias.
Neu Health Ltd. received $2 million in funding from Cedars-Sinai Intellectual Property Company and Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE) to bring its platform, designed for Parkinson’s disease and dementia care, into the U.S.
The EU has moved aggressively on legislation in recent years, with the AI Liability Directive serving as the latest example of legislation that sparked widespread opposition.
The final tally shows U.K. biotechs raised £3.5 billion (US$4.35 billion) in 2024, a stonking 93% more than in 2023, and surpassing the total in 2020, before the life sciences investment boom sparked by the pandemic. Of this, £2.1 billion was in venture capital, a 64.8% increase on 2023, while U.K biotechs attracted £1.5 billion in follow-on offerings, most of it raised by companies listed on Nasdaq.