A congressional investigation into COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing failures at Emergent Biosolutions Inc. unveiled more troubling issues at the company’s Bayview facility in Baltimore, which had been awarded a lucrative U.S. government contract to produce vaccines for Johnson & Johnson.
Cybersecurity remains a pressing issue for medical technology, in part because there are new, small companies jumping into this space seemingly every day. However, there is a shortage of talent in cybersecurity, something that Dan Lyon, director of cybersecurity at Boston Scientific Corp., of Marlborough, Mass., said will not ease soon due to a lack of interest among colleges and universities in providing curriculum and degrees in this area.
The U.S. FDA reported it is evaluating the potential for exposure to some chemicals associated with the use of several models of hemodialysis machines made by Fresenius Medical Care Inc., of Waltham, Mass., including units that are no longer in production.
Cvrx Inc. secured U.S. FDA approval for magnetic resonance-conditional labeling for its Barostim system, a neuromodulator that improves symptoms of patients with heart failure. With the latest approval, patients with the implanted system can have magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 1.5T under the specified conditions.
In a draft guidance released May 9, the U.S. FDA described the benefit-risk principles it uses when conducting quality-related assessments of chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) information submitted as part of a new drug application, biologics license application or supplement.
Even though at least two different U.S. district courts have ruled that the 340B enforcement letters the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration has sent to biopharma companies violate the Administrative Procedures Act, the agency continues to send the letters, along with threats of civil money penalties, to companies that place restrictions on the 340B discounts to contract pharmacies.
The shortage of semiconductor products, such as computer processors, was an artifact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the shortage has yet to ease, to the detriment of hospitals, device makers and patients. That dilemma surfaced again as the U.S. Department of Commerce met with device makers to discuss the dilemma, which in the views of some still constitutes a crisis of health care.
A risk of rare but potentially life-threatening blood clots in combination with low platelet levels after a jab of Johnson & Johnson's Janssen COVID-19 vaccine has convinced the U.S. FDA to limit its use. The vaccine is now authorized in the U.S. only for adults who wouldn't otherwise be vaccinated and those who can't or shouldn't, for medical reasons, get another approved vaccine. Through March 18, 2022, the FDA and CDC have identified 60 confirmed cases, including nine fatal cases of the condition, called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome – a rate of 3.23 cases per million doses of vaccine administered.
Mark it as a day to remember. The U.S. FDA has awarded de novo marketing authorization for the first in vitro diagnostic (IVD) test for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), enabling diagnosis of the dreaded disease years earlier than current clinical tests. Fujirebio Diagnostics Inc.’s Lumipulse G β-Amyloid Ratio (1-42/1-40) measures specific proteins in cerebral spinal fluid to provide rapid assessment of the risk of amyloid plaques, an indicator of the disease that may develop decades before cognitive impairment occurs.
Mark it as a day to remember. Today the FDA authorized the first in vitro diagnostic test for Alzheimer’s disease, enabling diagnosis of the dreaded disease years earlier than current clinical tests. Fujirebio Diagnostics Inc.’s Lumipulse G β-Amyloid Ratio (1-42/1-40) measures specific proteins in cerebral spinal fluid to provide rapid assessment of the risk of amyloid plaques, an indicator of the disease that may develop decades before cognitive impairment occurs.
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