The administration of President Joseph Biden announced March 17 a $10 billion allocation of funds for testing to reopen schools in the final months of the current school year, a source of revenues that was provided by the recently passed $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. The news follows by one day a new FDA policy on screening tests that allows test developers to distribute tests designed to screen those who are asymptomatic without first validating the test for this use, although there are still questions as to whether this new push will yet again crimp vital testing supplies.

Most of the med-tech companies doing business during the COVID-19 pandemic are experienced and already have their FDA compliance systems in place. However, Dennis Gucciardo, a partner at the D.C. office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, told BioWorld that while the FDA will give industry sufficient time to transition their emergency use authorizations (EUAs) to conventional premarket filings, the cost of setting up a quality management system may be greater than some current EUA holders are willing to bear.

The U.S. FDA has granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to Breath Direct Inc. for its BDR-19 critical care ventilator for the treatment of critical care patients with respiratory insufficiency. Initial shipments of the device are expected within weeks. The EUA marks a major milestone for the fledgling Long Beach, Calif.-based company, which was started by medical device entrepreneur Darren Saravis in the early days of the pandemic.

The Advanced Medical Technology Association’s (Advamed) new board chairman, Michael Minogue, president and CEO of Abiomed Inc., noted that the association’s agenda for 2021 includes considerations of several headwinds. However, Advamed President and CEO Scott Whitaker said the Medicare Coverage of Innovative Technologies (MCIT) program should commence March 15 as planned, despite the overhang of the Biden administration’s regulatory review of all orders posted in the last days of the Trump administration.

Oncology drugs that have racked up a number of indications through accelerated approvals are losing some of those indications as the result of an FDA industrywide evaluation of confirmatory trials that didn’t back up the approvals.

Aveo Oncology Inc. CEO Michael Bailey said the shifting treatment paradigm in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) represents “an advantageous opportunity” for the company with Fotivda (tivozanib), approved March 10 for adults with relapsed or refractory, advanced disease who have received two or more systemic therapies.

LONDON – Liquid biopsy specialist Inivata Ltd. has been granted a U.S. FDA breakthrough device designation for its Radar assay for detecting residual disease or relapse, following treatment for cancer. The personalized assay, which tracks a set of up to 48 genetic variants isolated from excised tumor tissue, is built on Inivata’s approved Invision platform for detecting circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in blood samples.