Absent extraordinary circumstances, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board “should never cancel claims it has not determined to be unpatentable as a sanction” for misconduct during a board proceeding, according to the acting director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
The U.S. FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health is recovering from a guidance drought that spanned several months in the first part of calendar year 2025, starting with a guidance on the Q-sub process.
U.S. Medicare coverage of telehealth and telemedicine sometimes seems to lag inappropriately, but fears of fraud were borne out in a conviction obtained recently by the Department of Justice.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it sent letters to 37 contact lens prescribers reminding them a failure to automatically provide patients with a prescription can result in fines of more than $53,000 per violation.
South Korea’s pharmaceutical exports rose nearly 18% year-on-year to reach $2.56 billion in the first quarter (Q1) this year, according to the Korea Health Industry Development Institute. Medical device exports, however, dropped about 5% in Q1 2025 to $1.39 billion, attributed to a drop in trade of implant products to both China and the U.S.
The U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence reported it will streamline its health technology assessment, but the bigger news might be that the agency will no longer require new technologies prove to be cost saving to win an endorsement from the agency.
The U.S. FDA reported the launch of its in-house generative AI (GenAI) tool, dubbed Elsa, for a variety of purposes. FDA commissioner Marty Makary assuaged industry’s privacy concerns by promising that the algorithm does not train on data submitted by makers of devices and pharmaceuticals.
The U.S. FDA’s decision to grant breakthrough device designation for Bivacor Inc.’s titanium total artificial heart (TAH) sent real hearts aflutter at the Huntington, Calif.-based company’s headquarters. While the designation supports use of the TAH as a bridge to transplant for adults with biventricular or univentricular heart failure for whom current options are insufficient or unsuitable, Bivacor hopes its device will eventually serve as a long-term heart replacement.
The U.S. FDA declined to appeal the outcome of a lawsuit eviscerating the agency’s final rule for regulation of lab-developed tests despite a 60-day window to do so.
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