The U.S. Senate Finance Committee hearing for the appointment of Xavier Becerra as Secretary of Health and Human Services ended in a tie vote, which not unexpectedly ran along party lines. The nomination of Becerra was controversial on several fronts, but the outcome nonetheless sends the nomination to the Senate floor, where Vice President Kamala Harris may cast the deciding vote in what is likely to be a literal 50-50 deadlock.
LONDON – The SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern that caused a wave of infection in Manaus, Brazil, in December and January has been found to be both more transmissible and to evade immunity conferred by prior natural infection with the virus. A combined Brazil/U.K. genome sequencing and epidemiological study found the variant, called P.1., is between 1.4 and 2.2 times more transmissible than earlier lineages, and can evade 25% to 61% of the protective immunity elicited by previous infection.
The latest global regulatory news, changes and updates affecting medical devices and technologies, including: GAO reviews FEMA's pandemic supply chain management efforts; Testing lab owner sentenced to three years; Health Canada renews interim order for importation of devices; FDA: claims of registration certificates may be misleading; MDCG issues gap guidance pending Eudamed completion; FDA seeking nominations for advisory committee.
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Asensus Surgical, Medalliance.
New hires and promotions in the med-tech industry, including: Geneoscopy, Immunologix Laboratories, Neuronetics, Northstar Medical Radioisotopes, Precipio, Profound Medical, Wellinks.
Keeping you up to date on recent developments in orthopedics, including: Treating rheumatoid arthritis with micromotors; Bioengineered hybrid muscle fiber for regenerative medicine; Immunosuppressive cell and cytokine response linked to bone nonunion.
DUBLIN – Sofinnova Partners closed out its crossover fund at €445 million (US$535 million), a total, it said, that makes it Europe’s largest crossover investor in biotech. It’s almost three years since Paris-based Sofinnova Partners completed an initial close at €275 million. “We didn’t set a bar – we thought between €250 million and €400 million would be great,” Antoine Papiernik, chairman and managing partner at Sofinnova, told BioWorld.
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