Total med-tech financings reached $8.81 billion in the first quarter (Q1) 2026, a 6% decline from $9.33 billion in Q1 2025 but well above the post-downturn lows of recent years.

Xeltis BV has secured CE mark approval for Axess, its restorative vascular access conduit for hemodialysis. The company also released 12-month data from its EU pivotal trial on the technology, which showed strong durability outcomes, including 79% secondary patency and a very low patency‑related reintervention rate of 1.3 per patient-year, as well as a substantial reduction in infection burden.

A new metasurface design strategy that replaces rigid order with “engineered disorder” could significantly increase how many optical functions can be integrated into a single ultra-thin device without increasing size or complexity, according to a study published in Nature Communications. The study challenges a longstanding assumption in optical engineering that highly ordered, periodic structures are required to precisely control light.

Pulnovo Medical Ltd. secured $100 million in a financing round led by Medtronic plc for its pulmonary artery denervation system to treat pulmonary hypertension.

The ability of Ebenbuild GmbH’s digital twin technology to predict the deposition of inhaled drugs across the lungs has been validated in a study published in Nature Communications Medicine. The platform, which combines AI-driven image analysis and physics-based computational modeling, demonstrated strong agreement with in vivo imaging data across multiple inhalation scenarios.

Total med-tech financings reached $8.81 billion in the first quarter (Q1) 2026, a 6% decline from $9.33 billion in Q1 2025 but well above the post-downturn lows of recent years. The 2026 total exceeds $6.45 billion in Q1 2024 and $4.69 billion in Q1 2023, indicating continued recovery from the weaker funding environment that followed the 2021 peak. While still below the $16.59 billion recorded in Q1 2019 and the pandemic-era highs, the data suggest that financing activity has stabilized at a higher baseline, with 2026 maintaining momentum despite a slight year-over-year pullback.

Nearly a year after the first U.S. commercial launch of the multicancer molecular residual disease (MRD) detection platform Pathlight, developer Saga Diagnostics entered a definitive merger agreement under which Roche Holding AG subsidiary Foundation Medicine Inc. will take over the firm in return for up to $595 million in payments.

Abbott Laboratories saw its shares fall in early trading April 16 after cutting its guidance for 2026 on the back of dilution related to its $21 billion acquisition of Exact Sciences Corp. The company revised its full year adjusted earnings per share guidance to $5.38 to 5.58, down from $5.55 to $5.80 previously. The updated outlook includes 20 cents of dilution related to the Exact deal. Abbott also reported first quarter profits of $1.08 billion, down 18.7% from a year ago.

A new metasurface design strategy that replaces rigid order with “engineered disorder” could significantly increase how many optical functions can be integrated into a single ultra-thin device without increasing size or complexity, according to a study published in Nature Communications. The study challenges a longstanding assumption in optical engineering that highly ordered, periodic structures are required to precisely control light.