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SynchroMed III

FDA approval of Synchromed III alleviates pain points for physicians, Medtronic

Oct. 13, 2023
By Annette Boyle
No one is looking in the rearview mirror at Medtronic plc as a fresh U.S. FDA approval for the next generation version of its intrathecal drug delivery system allows the company to leave behind a spate of problems associated with its Sychromed II device. The device delivers medication directly to the fluid surrounding the spinal cord via a small catheter positioned to deposit the drug at the site of most severe pain. The targeted delivery improves management of chronic and cancer-related pain as well as management of severe spasticity without use of systemic opioids.
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2023 Med Tech Conference

FDA’s Shuren says agency decidedly moving away from up-or-down vote at advisory hearings

Oct. 12, 2023
By Mark McCarty

The FDA town hall on the final day of the 2023 edition of the Med Tech Conference included the usual patter about the achievements at the agency’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), but a few useful nuggets of information nonetheless slipped through in this year’s session. CDRH director Jeff Shuren acknowledged that the agency is steering device advisory committee hearings away from votes on whether to approve a product, an approach he said is under consideration at the agency’s other product centers as well.


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Airamed Airascore

Airamed’s AI brain software a ‘game-changer’ for early Alzheimer's diagnosis

Oct. 11, 2023
By Shani Alexander
The U.S. FDA 510(k) clearance of Airamed GmbH’s Airascore software could see millions of people benefitting from early accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia. Airascore is a medical image management and processing system that uses deep learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to assess brain volumetry data on MRI scans in as little as five minutes.
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U.S. FDA headquarters

Abiomed stung by FDA’s final guidance for clinical decision support in warning letter

Oct. 11, 2023
By Mark McCarty
The U.S. FDA’s final guidance for clinical decision support (CDS) systems may be the subject of two citizen’s petitions requesting the agency scrap the guidance and start over, but that doesn’t mean the agency is not enforcing the terms of the guidance. Danvers, Mass.-based Abiomed Inc., took in a Sept. 19 warning letter stating that the company’s Impella Connect system qualifies as a CDS product because it provides “patient-specific medical information to detect a life-threatening condition,” an interpretation that is sure to intensify the larger debate about whether the CDS final guidance is an extra-statutory exercise in regulatory engineering.
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2023 Med Tech Conference

Congress seen as having leeway to bring LDT user fees on board midstream in MDUFA VI

Oct. 9, 2023
By Mark McCarty

The U.S. FDA’s draft rule for regulation of lab-developed tests (LDTs) carries an exceptionally ambitious timeline of completion and enactment by the time the next user fee agreement kicks in, and some see big problems with the timeline laid out by the agency. However, the FDA’s Elizabeth Hillebrenner said that Congress can tweak user fee legislation such that a specific set of user fee sources kicks in off schedule, thus giving the agency a little more leeway in completing any activity related to the proposed rule.


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Inbrain graphene-based cortical brain interface

Inbrain granted breakthrough device designation for graphene-based neural platform

Oct. 9, 2023
By Shani Alexander

Inbrain Neuroelectronics SL was granted a breakthrough device designation from the U.S. FDA for its graphene-based neural platform as an adjunctive therapy for treating Parkinson’s disease. The platform, called intelligent network modulation system, harnesses the power of graphene and artificial intelligence to deliver highly focused, adaptive neuroelectronic therapy that re-balances pathological neural networks, easing the symptoms of Parkinson’s.


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FDA’s draft rule on lab-developed tests not necessarily the last word

Oct. 2, 2023
By Mark McCarty
The U.S. FDA has finally let fly with a draft rule for regulation of lab-developed tests (LDTs), an 83-page document that delves into the legal controversies regarding whether the agency has the requisite statutory authority. However, Allyson Mullen, a director in the D.C. office of Hyman, Phelps & McNamara P.C., told BioWorld that the emergence of this draft rule doesn’t mean Congress won’t eventually be dragged back into the LDT fray, particularly if stakeholders litigate to overturn the draft.
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Health professional, EHR/medical icons

US NIH preparing to dive into real-world data pool for basic research

Sep. 29, 2023
By Mark McCarty
The U.S. FDA may be the most prominent agency in the federal government when it comes to the use of real-world data (RWD), but the National Institutes of Health is keen to immerse itself in this trove of information. The agency has made a request for public comment on how NIH centers can best leverage RWD for biomedical and behavioral research, although some ethical and practical considerations may have to be overcome.
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Advisory panel urges FDA to reclassify three in vitro diagnostic tests

Sep. 27, 2023
By Mark McCarty
The U.S. FDA recently convened an advisory hearing to discuss whether three in vitro diagnostics should be reclassified from class III to class II, including tests for the pathogens responsible for Hepatitis B and tuberculosis. The panel agreed that all three of the test types should be reshuffled to the lower-risk class II category, suggesting that test developers now have an opportunity to jump into a market with lower-cost tests that won’t need expensive and drawn-out clinical studies to obtain the FDA’s seal of approval.
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