Digital therapeutics have made great strides in recent years, with Pear Therapeutics Inc. playing a key role. Now, the company has reported the dosing of the first patient in part two of a study assessing Pear-006 – which Pear Therapeutics is developing in collaboration with Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis AG – to address depressive symptoms in multiple sclerosis (MS).

There is no FDA-approved medication for Alzheimer’s disease. But there is some hope that if the blood-brain barrier could be more easily penetrated by drug candidates they would prove more effective. That is the line of research being pursued by Israeli company Insightec Ltd. via its Exablate Neuro that provides low-intensity focused ultrasound treatment.

HONG KONG – Negev-based Ben-Gurion University (BGU) and Beersheba-based Soroka Medical Center in Israel, working with the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati (UC), have developed a technology for unblocking and removing secretions from airways to to treat patients with diseases affecting the respiratory tract.

The Watchman left atrial appendage device, distributed by Marlborough, Mass.-based Boston Scientific Corp., holds a unique place in the annals of med tech regulation, but 50-month data from two registries show a lower rate of hemorrhagic stroke than previously reported for the device.

The recent controversy over the use of paclitaxel in the peripheral vasculature has clouded the larger debate over whether bypass is superior to endovascular therapies for the lower limbs. However, a new study suggests that nitinol stents provide a feasible alternative to bypass even for lesions of the femoropopliteal artery that are 30 cm in length.

LONDON – Mologic Ltd. has started recruitment in a 263-patient trial to validate its urine-based home test for anticipating exacerbations of chronic pulmonary obstructive disease (COPD). The lateral flow immunoassay self-test detects five biomarkers of the lung disease in urine that are indicative of inflammation and infection.

Germantown, Md.-based Senseonics Inc. said results from a recent study confirm that the sensor in its Eversense continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system performs well over multiple, sequential 90-day and 180-day cycles. The real-world trial assessed the accuracy of the Eversense data management system by comparing sensor blood sugar values with self-monitored glucose values in 945 adults.

Stanford University School of Medicine and Apple Inc.have published results from the largest digital-only study. The trial has been conducted in more than 400,000 people in the U.S. over more than eight months. It was set up to screen participants via their Apple Watch for heart irregularities and then to further monitor any of those with identified issues with a wearable ECG patch.