Medical device supply chain considerations became especially salient during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the U.S. FDA is interested in ensuring that supply chains do not hamper patient access going forward. However, Clayton Hall of the Medical Device Manufacturers Association (MDMA) said on a recent FDA webinar that device makers are sometimes at the mercy of their suppliers.
Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp. launched T-Detect Lyme, a T-cell-based clinical test to detect immune response activated by Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterial species of spirochete that causes Lyme disease. The CLIA-validated laboratory-developed test (LDT) is meant to help diagnose early Lyme disease in adults showing signs and symptoms of the tick-borne illness.
The U.S. FDA is among the regulators that are taking account of the views of patients in medical device development and regulation, but artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are terra incognita for many, if not most patients. Rebekah Angove, vice president for patient experience and program evaluation at the Patient Insight Institute, told BioWorld that while some patients clearly want to know more about AI and ML, it is also clear that more than a certain amount of detail is more of a distraction than a help for most patients.
What was billed as a U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing June 16 to get an update from top government health officials on the nation’s response to COVID-19 was, in reality, a concerted effort to get Republicans in the U.S. Senate to open the checkbook so the Biden administration could fill in the amount for more COVID-19 spending, Ranking Member Richard Burr (R-N.C.) charged as he concluded the hearing.
Outset Medical Inc. dropped 38% during intraday trading to reach its lowest point since going public in mid-2020 following its announcement that it began holding shipments of its Tablo hemodialysis system for home use in late May pending U.S. FDA clearance of a 510(k) submission for changes made to the device since its original clearance in March 2020. The stock which closed June 13 at $20.43, recovered some ground to close June 15 at $14.58, which is still 78% off the stock’s high in November 2020.
U.S. FDA Commissioner Robert Califf offered the keynote address at this year’s annual meeting of the Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI), revisiting recent events that have roiled the agency’s staff and reputation. Califf made a point of emphasizing the need for new statutory authorities in connection with the supply chains for FDA-regulated products, and remarked that his return to the agency will not be a reversion to the norm in this context.
Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc. added a new indication for its robotic Eksonr exoskeleton with a U.S. FDA 510(k) clearance for use of the mobility device in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The green light for MS follows clearances for stroke and spinal cord rehabilitation in 2016 and acquired brain injury (ABI) in 2020.
Bright Uro Inc. has emerged from stealth mode with $4 million in seed financing from Academy Investor Network, Fred Moll and several other angel investors. The company also secured a $2 million phase II small business innovation research (SBIR) grant from the NIH.
The cost of providing COVID-19 vaccines and therapies for a possible fall surge in the U.S. is coming at the expense of testing and personal protection equipment. While other countries are planning for the expected surge by placing their orders for vaccines and therapies, “we are starting to lose our place in line,” White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Ashish Jha said during a June 9 media briefing.
The issue of life science espionage continues to reverberate across the U.S., and a new report by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) suggests that vulnerabilities in the U.S. have not been adequately addressed. The OIG report said that more than two thirds of NIH grantees failed to meet at least one requirement for investigator disclosures about their activities related to foreign entities, including governments, a problem OIG says is in dire need of a fix.
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