Icecure Medical Ltd. reported that the U.S. FDA has granted marketing authorization to Icecure's de novo application for the Prosense cryoablation system for the local treatment of breast cancer in patients 70 years of age or older with biologically low-risk tumors. The authorized indication includes patients that are not suitable for surgery for breast cancer treatment.

While the final word has yet to be written, Stryker Corp. came out the biggest winner in a dispute involving four related patents owned by Osteomed LLC, part of Colson Associates’ Acumed.

Even though the U.S. CDC is operating on a skeleton crew due to the partial government shutdown, it is updating its immunization schedules to adopt the COVID-19 and chickenpox vaccine recommendations the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) made at its September meeting.

The U.S. FDA device center’s guidance agenda for fiscal 2026 is the classic case of something old and something new, but what was borrowed from FY 2025 may make some blue.

The U.S. FDA has approved the priority sNDA for a new first-line maintenance therapy in extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer from Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc. Zepzelca (lurbinectedin) can now be combined with Tecentriq (atezolizumab, Roche AG) or atezolizumab and hyaluronidase-tqjs (Tecentriq Hybreza, Roche) as a maintenance therapy for adults who haven’t progressed after first-line induction therapy with atezolizumab, carboplatin and etoposide.

The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has decided to lean into personalized medicine with the adoption of the concept of a “preference zone” for determining when a therapy can and cannot be used for a specific patient, a concept that is liable to lead to more demanding postmarket surveillance.

While the discussions and votes at the past two meetings of the U.S. CDC Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) have generated a lot of controversy and resulted in some states and medical groups issuing their own vaccine schedules, the truth is that the newly reconstituted committee’s recommendations to date are still in line with, or more generous in some instances than, global norms.

AI seems to suggest that a world of problems with health care spending may become more manageable, but Stephen Bittinger, a shareholder in the D.C. office of the law firm of Polsinelli PC told BioWorld that all the headaches surrounding validation of these algorithms suggests a need for an independent AI validation institute.

The market for colorectal cancer screening tests seems poised to heat up considerably with a recent request for Medicare coverage for Genoscopy’s Colosense test, but some who commented on the proposal have misgivings about the lower level of specificity seen in the Colosense relative to the Cologuard.