U.S. FDA inspections are not always a pleasant experience, particularly when the end result is a warning letter. One company, Sea-Long Medical Systems LLC of Waxahachie, Texas, says the experience was a positive experience in that the company’s new ownership gained an important appreciation for the necessary rigors of medical device manufacturing.
China continues to ramp up efforts to digitize its health care system, as it moves closer toward a 2025 deadline that is part of a nationwide plan. Several of the country’s largest tech conglomerates now have digital health operations that are beginning to show profits and are expected to grow significantly over the next decade.
Royal Philips NV and Masimo Corp. received U.S. FDA clearance that allows the activation of Sedline brain function monitoring, regional oximetry and carbon dioxide measurements in Philips Intellivue MX750 and MX850 patient monitors, which will streamline decision-making for clinicians by eliminating the need for separate pieces of monitoring equipment. The integrated equipment can help clinicians more quickly assess and monitor cerebral oxygenation, anesthetic sedation and patient respiratory performance using the same monitor.
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Cardiorenal, Ezra, Royal Philips, Seegene.
If Orlucent Inc. has its way atypical moles in adults will soon give up their secrets to clinicians on the lookout for skin cancer, this after the Los Gatos, Calif.-based company received a U.S. FDA breakthrough device designation for its non-invasive Orlucent skin fluorescence imaging system. The system is a hand-held point-of-care molecular-based imaging device that identifies “tissue remodeling activity” inside atypical moles that could be a precursor to early melanoma.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed an agreement with the Biden administration on the debt ceiling, a deal that does not affect mandatory spending programs such as Medicare. However, the agreement, which still must gain the Senate’s stamp of approval, appears to eliminate any chance of yet more monies for the National Institutes of Health or the FDA, two programs of intense interest for companies in the life sciences.
With False Claims Act (FCA) whistle-blower lawsuits multiplying amid the complexity of regulations that often are unclear, the U.S. Supreme Court provided some clarity as to what constitutes a false claim in a unanimous opinion handed down June 1. But it’s not what the biopharma and med-tech industries were hoping for.
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: GE Healthcare, Think Surgical.
In a new health technology assessment, the U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has voiced misgivings about the evidence behind the use of MRI/ultrasound fusion systems to perform needle biopsy for suspected prostate cancer. NICE said the evidence for these systems could be bolstered by additional research comparing fusion biopsy to cognitive fusion-directed biopsy, suggesting that companies working in this space have a significant evidentiary lift in front of them.
The U.S. FDA has granted 510(k) clearance to GE Healthcare Technologies Inc. for its Precision DL for PET/CT, an artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning (DL)-powered software designed to sharpen quality and improve efficiencies in medical imaging. Part of the company’s Effortless Recon DL portfolio, the technology is available on GE’s Omni Legend PET/CT digital scanner.