In the latest step toward making left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) easier and more accessible, the FDA recently approved a less invasive surgical approach for use with Abbott Laboratories’ latest LVAD, Heartmate 3. Now, rather than requiring risky open-heart surgery, the device can be implanted through an incision in the chest wall. Abbott gained Heartmate 3 in its 2017 acquisition of St. Jude Medical for $25 billion.
Cambridge, Mass.-based Blueprint Medicines Corp.’s price tag and label for Ayvakit (avapritinib) caused some chagrin on Wall Street as observers continued to weigh the drug’s odds against ripretinib, the competing drug for which Deciphera Pharmaceuticals Inc. awaits regulatory action.
PARIS – The Cour des comptes, supreme body for auditing the use of public funds in France, independent from government and parliament, has just released its report on the operation of the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM). Following 10 months of administrative and financial investigation, these financial controllers have highlighted the weakness of controls applied to medical devices placed on the market in France.
The U.S. has granted final approval to Microvention Inc., a subsidiary of Terumo Corp. based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., for its Flow Redirection Endoluminal Device (FRED) for the treatment of brain aneurysms. The flow diverter – Microvention’s third PMA approval in less than two years – is the first in the U.S. to utilize a self-expanding, braided nitinol mesh to aid in rerouting blood flow away from the weakened area and promote occlusion.
Dublin-based Medtronic plc received a CE mark for its Percept PC neurostimulator to treat neurologic disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. It is the first deep brain stimulation system launched in the EU that integrates the company’s technology to sense and record brain signals, known as Brainsense. It’s intended to enable more personalized treatment driven by that data.
Jenavalve Technology Inc., of Irvine, Calif., has won an FDA breakthrough device designation for its namesake transcatheter aortic valve replacement device, but Jenavalve said it will file for a humanitarian device exemption in the second half of 2020, suggesting that the device won’t be commercially available for at least another year.
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