Despite down-to-the-wire negotiations, the odds are that parts of the U.S. government will shut down at midnight Sept. 30, as Senate Democrats refused to support a seven-week, clean continuing resolution already passed by the House to keep the government funded while Congress hammers out fiscal 2026 spending bills.

Up to 71% of people carry at least one pathogenic variant that could contribute to development of a heritable disorder in offspring, but until now, prospective parents often had to undergo multiple tests to understand their risks. Pacific Biosciences of California Inc. (Pacbio)’s expanded Puretarget portfolio provides a quicker and more streamlined solution as it covers all challenging tier 3 genes identified in the American College of Medical Genetics technical standard.

Bard Peripheral Vascular Inc., agreed to pay $7.2 million to settle allegations that two photoplethysmography products it distributed were the subject of illicit Medicare claims, a problem the company inherited when it decided to do business with Semler Scientific Inc. of Campbell, Calif.

Rakuten Medical Inc. is advancing a pipeline of solid tumor therapeutics built on its Alluminox platform worldwide, having gained conditional early approval of ASP-1929, an Alluminox-derived photoimmunotherapy, in Japan in 2020.

The Trump administration has launched an investigation into the national security effects of imports of medical equipment, devices, consumables and equipment, laying the groundwork for a potential increase in tariffs targeting the industry. A separate investigation into robotics and industrial machinery began the same day. Med-tech stocks dropped significantly in response to the news as investors fear increased tariffs on the sector. In April, the administration initiated a similar review of the pharmaceutical industry and in August threatened 200% tariffs on that sector.

The U.S. FDA issued a pair of final guidances this week, including one that outlines the criteria for authorizing emergency use of unapproved in vitro diagnostic tests during future public health emergencies and another on software assurance in computer and data processing systems for medical device production.

The struggle to avoid a partial U.S. government shutdown at midnight Sept. 30 is getting a lot of attention, as the stakes increase every day of the political standoff. Meanwhile, Sept. 30 also could be the end of the 43-year-old Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which has been a funding boon for biotech and med-tech startups, if Congress can’t come together on a reauthorization bill.

Billiontoone Inc.’s Unity Fetal Risk screen identifies fetuses at high risk for cystic fibrosis (CF), a study published in Journal of Cystic Fibrosis found.

Heartflow Inc. hasn’t skipped a beat in pumping out good news, with U.S. FDA 510(k) clearance for its next-gen plaque analysis algorithm and platform and Cigna coverage across all lines of coverage starting in October. The new algorithm improves plaque detection 21% compared to the first version of Heartflow’s algorithm.