The push for legislation that would lower prescription drug prices in the U.S. has mounted in recent months, but support for Medicare pricing negotiations has faltered in the past few weeks. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) is the latest Senate Democrat to signal his aversion to giving the government the authority to negotiate prices with drugmakers, breathing new life into hopes that the pharmaceutical industry will yet again escape a mechanism that critics say would suppress innovation at the expense of patients in desperate need of state-of-the-art therapies.

The COVID-19 testing rebound driven by the Delta variant’s extended surge pushed Abbott Laboratories’ earnings per share for the third quarter nearly 50% higher than consensus estimates. Sales climbed to $10.928 billion, up 15% from expected estimates of $9.564 billion. COVID-19 testing accounted for $1.9 billion in sales, but even without that boost, the company posted year-over-year growth of 11.7% compared to the third quarter of 2019. With COVID testing included, Abbott had organic sales growth of 22.4% compared to the same quarter of 2020 and up 35% compared to the third quarter of 2019. With the third-quarter results, the company announced an increase in the full-year guidance to $5 to $5.10, nearly 40% higher than last year.

Castle Biosciences Inc. is acquiring gastrointestinal (GI) diagnostics company Cernostics Inc. in a transaction valued up to $80 million. The deal marks a move from Castle’s focus on dermatology diagnostics to include GI disorders and could expand its estimated U.S. total addressable market by approximately $1 billion, the company said. Shares of Castle Biosciences (NASDAQ:CSTL) jumped 7.8% to close at $67.58 on Tuesday Oct. 19.

Patent subject matter eligibility has emerged as arguably the most controversial patent policy theme of the past two decades, one which has been most keenly felt in the world of in vitro diagnostics (IVDs). A new study pending publication suggests that venture capital (VC) investment in IVDs would have been $9.3 billion higher in the four years following the Supreme Court’s decision in Mayo v. Prometheus, a finding which the author said leads inevitably to the conclusion that the subject matter eligibility crisis “should receive Congress’ immediate attention.”

The FDA issued an Oct. 18 reminder to the diagnostics industry that the agency still requires test developers to register with an institutional review board (IRB) for all studies of human subjects. This still pertains to studies that make use of leftover, de-identified specimens in FDA-regulated studies, an alert to industry which suggests that enforcement actions may be in the near offing.

Microtech Medical (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd. raised around HK$1.98 billion (US$254.53 million) via its listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange, becoming the latest in a flood of med-tech companies listing in the city.