A committee of the House of Representatives advanced a bill that if passed will give eligible breakthrough medical devices four years of Medicare coverage.

As is the case with the Made in China 2025 initiative, the Make in India program has at least a decade of history to look back on, with some benefits accruing to the nation’s med-tech sector. All the same, Gunjan Bagla, CEO of Los Angeles-based Amritt Inc., told BioWorld that the initiative could be more successful if the legislature would tweak the laws to create a more helpful environment for industry.

Roche Holdings AG received CE mark approval for the integration of its AI-enabled continuous glucose monitoring system, Accu-Chek Smartguide, with the Mysugr diabetes management app. The integrated solution, which combines predictive CGM technology with therapy data in one place, will simplify the daily decision-making for users managing their diabetes.

China’s National Medical Products Administration is arguably more active than regulatory agencies in many nations in advancing guidance for AI in medical technology, but Chang-Hong Whitney, President/CEO of Whitney Consulting Ltd., told BioWorld that the premarket review process still carries some unpredictability.

The Sept. 17 U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on the CDC is throwing even more shade on the upcoming meeting of the agency’s reconstituted Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP), which is expected to recommend changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.

Biocartis Group NV received premarket approval from the U.S. FDA for its Idylla Cdx MSI test, developed in partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb Co., to help in the diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer. The cartridge-based, fully automated, sample-to-result test enables faster identification of patients with the disease who may benefit from therapeutic treatment.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has posted notice to health care companies that their use of noncompete agreements for physicians and nurses may violate the law. The advisory may allow physicians and nurses engaged in clinical trials to move to other employers, thus complicating the conduct of those trials.

Japan’s Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency has traditionally been less than receptive to clinical data from other nations, but that aversion is slowly giving way. Ames Gross of Pacific Bridge Medical told BioWorld that a trial conducted in another nation with significant representation of those of Japanese ancestry can go a long way toward obviating the need for a trial conducted in Japan.

Recent comments from CDER Director George Tidmarsh suggesting that the agency may be backing away from the use of its independent expert panels for individual product approvals seem to be supported by the numbers.