The good news is that the U.S. Congress is on track to pass a slate of fiscal 2026 spending bills before the current continuing resolution expires Jan. 30. So, barring any last-minute disputes or legislative hostage-taking, there should be no repeat of last year’s 43-day shutdown that impacted NIH grants and activities.

Boston Scientific Corp.’s intent to acquire Penumbra Inc. for $14.5 billion will not only allow it to expand its minimal invasive care portfolio in areas such as embolization and peripheral vascular disease, but to also reenter the neurovascular space, Kathleen Van Vlierberghe, vice president of Peripheral Interventions EMEA, told BioWorld.

Aidoc Medical Ltd.'s Care AI foundation model secured 11 new U.S. FDA-cleared indications for use in emergency department triage. Now, with 14 total cleared indications enabling comprehensive evaluation and prioritization of abdomen CTs in a single workflow, Aidoc Care can help health systems identify critical findings more quickly and mitigate delays caused by overcrowding and imaging backlogs.

Microsurgery is performed to connect small human vessels, but the technical difficulty required to conduct this type of surgery is quite specialized and limits the number of surgeons who can perform microsurgery.

The U.S. FDA’s final rule for regulation of lab-developed tests is now a part of regulatory litigation history, but Scott Whitaker, CEO and president of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, said that while Congress is still considering LDT legislation, any new legislation may differ substantially from previous bills.

The U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is revisiting its policy for osteoporosis and may recommend that clinicians include vertebral fracture assessment with dual energy X-ray absorptiometry procedures.