China’s health regulator gave conditional approval to Platinum Life Excellence Biotech Co. Ltd.’s amimestrocel injection (hUC-MSC PLEB-001, Ruibosheng) as the nation’s first human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cell therapy to treat steroid-refractory acute graft-vs.-host disease on Jan. 2, 2025.

Continuing a spate of beginning-of-the-year guidance, the U.S. FDA released a draft guidance on developing drugs for optical imaging.

Xeltis BV completed enrollment in the EU pivotal trial for its restorative vascular access conduit, Axess. The prospective study will investigate the patency, safety and performance of Axess in adult patients with end-stage renal disease requiring vascular access to start or maintain hemodialysis therapy.

South Korea’s government continued to ramp up investment in its pharmaceutical and med-tech sector in 2025, including a 7.2% hike for the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s budget and a near 15% increase in funding to research and develop innovative biotechnologies.

Medtronic plc received CE mark approval for its Harmony transcatheter pulmonary valve system to treat congenital heart disease patients with native or surgically repaired right ventricular outflow tract pulmonary regurgitation.

The discussion about taxpayer appropriations for CMS has been ongoing for decades, leading to futile speculation regarding user fees for the agency. Louis Jacques, who formerly worked at CMS, told BioWorld that Congress tends to be somewhat reactive when it comes to appropriations for CMS – a dynamic which suggests that appropriations for CMS are not likely to improve significantly in the near term.

The question of how skin pigmentation affects the performance of pulse oximeters has drawn the U.S. FDA’s close attention for several years, and the agency issued a draft guidance to address these questions. The draft guidance recommends that new and existing devices be evaluated to establish performance across different pigmentations, a development that would address concerns among clinicians and patients alike.

For more than a decade, HIV remained the only sexually transmitted infection (STI) with U.S. FDA approval of at-home sample collection, but a growing number of tests for sexually transmitted infections have received the regulatory greenlight for patients to swab themselves in the privacy of their own homes in recent years. With STIs reaching levels not seen in decades, regulators and physicians hope that the move will increase diagnostic rates and reduce disease spread by overcoming stigma and access barriers.

Makers of digital health apps are not often subject to the provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), but any such liabilities may soon become more onerous. The Department of Health and Human Services released a draft update for HIPAA cybersecurity mandates – the final version of which is sure to be accompanied by much more vigorous enforcement.

Some people may have seen 2024 as the year of artificial intelligence (AI) in med tech, but the FDA is off to a strong start in 2025 with a dual-purpose AI draft guidance. While the draft covers both premarket submissions and life cycle management considerations, the more important consideration is that the FDA’s centers for devices, drugs and biologics have all signed off on the draft, suggesting an agency-wide convergence in thinking about AI.