TORONTO – The Toraymyxin (PMX) hemoperfusion cartridge developed by Toronto’s Spectral Medical Inc. and used successfully to treat patients during the avian and swine flu pandemics is being eyed to help COVID-19 patients in Canada. Specifically, an emergency interim order from Health Canada expands its use to include treatment of COVID-19 patients with high levels of endotoxin in their blood and in acute respiratory failure.

TORONTO – Within a week of completing clinical trials the chest radiography AI tool developed by Vancouver, B.C.-based 1Qbit Inc. has been given the all-clear from Health Canada for deployment across the country. The XrAI was originally developed to better identify patients with respiratory illness including SARS, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB), but then in February was tested on a publicly available data set of COVID-19 X-ray images.

TORONTO – A portable DNA-based test kit developed by Ottawa-based Spartan Bioscience Inc. has received Health Canada approval for COVID-19 testing – this at a time when hospitals are under enormous pressure to meet increased testing demand.

The U.S. FDA reported that it has expanded the emergency use authorization for the Labcorp polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for SARS-CoV-2 to include the company’s Pixel self-collection kit, a development that may presage a wider testing paradigm that is needed to restore the U.S. economy to normalcy.

Synaptive Medical Inc., of Toronto, has secured Health Canada’s approval for Evry, the company’s superconducting head magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. The Evry system aims to provide imaging directly at the point of care in areas outside diagnostic imaging departments.