Counterintuitively, use of cerebral embolic protection failed to reduce the incidence of stroke in the 72 hours following a transcatheter aortic valve replacement or implantation found a late-breaking clinical trial presented at ACC.25, the American College of Cardiology’s annual scientific session held March 29-31 in Chicago and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

CMR Surgical Ltd. secured more than $200 million in funding to bring its surgical robotic system, Versius, to the U.S. market and expand elsewhere. The financing, which came in the form of equity and debt, is “highly important” for the company and comes at the right time as it is “expanding and growing nicely,” company CEO Massimiliano Colella told BioWorld.

The renal denervation patent wars are now in full swing, with subsidiaries of Medtronic plc and Recor Medical LLC, landing the first blow in this chapter of the med tech patent struggles.

GE Healthcare Technologies Inc. gained full ownership of Nihon Medi-Physics Co. Ltd. after acquiring the remaining 50% stake from Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd. on March 31.

After several on-again, off-again tariff threats, U.S. President Donald Trump made it official April 2: Beginning immediately, the U.S. will levy “kind reciprocal” tariffs on countries across the world. Focusing on the numbers, Trump didn’t mention whether any goods would be exempt from the new tariffs, and the executive order he signed at the Rose Garden ceremony wasn’t available as of press time. However, in concluding his remarks, Trump said the pharmaceutical industry would “come roaring back” in the U.S., because if biopharma companies don’t, they will be facing big taxes.

U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., invited Robert Kennedy to testify April 10 before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee for the first time in his capacity as Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary. The HELP invitation went out April 1 amid an outcry as thousands of employees across HHS agencies were being notified of their immediate termination and many lawmakers demanded answers about the mass layoffs.

“The nation’s scientific enterprise is being decimated.” That statement in an open letter “to the American people” signed by 1,800 members of the U.S. National Academies, is made concrete in a list of 709 NIH grants – and counting – that have been axed since President Donald Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20. A grant tracker, based on information published by the Department of Health and Human Sciences, and self-reported terminations from scientists, includes 88 vaccine-related projects, 45 cancer research grants and 231 awards made for HIV research.

As it prepares to advance its lead RNA editing candidate, AIR-001, into a phase I/II trial for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, Airna Corp. Inc. closed an oversubscribed $155 million series B financing less than a year after completing its series A round. The company, based in Cambridge, Mass., with research operations in Tübingen, Germany, focuses not only on repairing harmful genetic variants found in rare genetic disorders, but also on introducing beneficial variants that improve health in common conditions.

Australia’s top universities are looking more to Asia for research collaborations following threats from the Trump administration to stop funding research at institutions that don’t comply with U.S. narratives.

The two-year results of TRILUMINATE trial showed the first objective benefit to use of Abbott Laboratories’ Triclip transcatheter tricuspid edge-to-edge repair device in a presentation at ACC.25, the American College of Cardiology’s annual scientific session held March 29-31 in Chicago and simultaneously published in Circulation.