Digital medicine startup Appliedvr Inc. has gained breakthrough device designation status from the U.S. FDA for its virtual reality (VR) platform for treating treatment-resistant fibromyalgia and chronic intractable lower back pain. The designation follows the completion of a clinical trial assessing VR-based therapy for self-management of chronic pain at home.

Abbott Laboratories saw improvement with its medical devices and diagnostics in the third quarter, which featured wins in the areas of COVID-19, diabetes, and structural heart. The company revealed its quarterly results on a Oct. 21 call, during which management said it was increasing its guidance for full-year adjusted earnings per share (EPS) to at least $3.55.

While the FDA’s approach to evaluating safety and efficacy in the development and review of COVID-19 vaccines for the U.S. market will be at the center of its Oct. 22 advisory committee meeting, the panel also will be asked to discuss the practicalities, and ethics, of continuing to conduct trials once a candidate has been granted an emergency use authorization.

A multi-institutional team of researchers has implicated lipid droplets, which are key energy storage units of individual cells, in innate immune defense. "Until now it was thought that [lipid droplets] were at the service of viruses or bacteria during infection," Albert Pol told BioWorld. The new study, which was published in the Oct. 16, 2020, issue of Science, demonstrated that cells also use the droplets to coordinate their defense.