The question of screening for the COVID-19 pandemic continues to absorb the interest of both the U.S. FDA and test developers, and Tim Stenzel, director of the FDA’s Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health (OIR), said in a July 22 webinar that the FDA is “very interested” in a fingerstick test at the point of care for screening purposes, adding that the agency sees any such applications as a priority.

Becton, Dickinson and Co. (BD) has received a green light for a premarket approval supplement from the U.S. FDA for an expanded version of its BD Onclarity HPV assay. It includes the expansion for genotype reporting beyond human papilloma virus (HPV) genotypes 16, 18, and 45.

Artificial intelligence (AI)-focused Caption Health Inc. has scored a green light from the U.S. FDA for an updated version of Caption Interpretation, which aims to help clinicians gain quick, easy and accurate measurements of cardiac ejection fraction (EF) at the point of care.

Abbott Laboratories has won the U.S. FDA’s nod for an iOS-compatible app that is designed to optimize care for people using the company’s neuromodulation devices to manage their chronic pain and movement disorders. The digital tool, which can be used on several Apple devices, is part of Abbott’s Neurosphere Digital Care connected care management platform, which launched in May.

Since the stock-jolting phase III blowup in March of Milestone Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s etripamil for paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT), questions have lingered regarding the short-acting channel blocker’s regulatory path forward – but no longer. Shares of Montreal-based Milestone (NASDAQ:MIST), which in the spring plummeted to an all-time low of $1.70, made up for the loss and then some, closing at $8.91, up $5.57, or 167%, on word that the FDA has agreed to terms whereby an NDA for the nasal spray may be submitted without launching another phase III study.

Although PDUFA VI still has two years of life left to it, PDUFA VII is already in the birthing process, with the use of real-world data (RWD), AI, and a coming surge of novel cell and gene therapies looking to be prominent features of the next five-year user fee agreement. Politics likely will play a role as well.

PERTH, Australia – The U.S. FDA gave the thumbs up to Australia’s Micro-X Ltd. for its Rover mobile X-ray system. The 510(k) application was cleared in just five weeks. The concept for the Rover was originally developed under a contract with the Australian Department of Defense to prove that Micro-X’s technology could fulfill an unmet need for a full performance, digital medical X-ray imager that was light enough to be used in deployed medical facilities.

Interludes of classical music. Little kids talking in the background. Unmuted mics as panelists multitask. Gurgles of “underwater” sound. Periods of silence as speakers forget to unmute. And then the technical problems – lots of them. Such are the challenges of addressing a virtual FDA advisory committee in the time of COVID-19.