PERTH, Australia – During the COVID-19 pandemic, 90% of Australia’s clinical trials were put on hold, and the market cap of biotech and medical device companies on the Australian Securities Exchange dropped 5% to AU$11 billion (US$7.78 billion), according to a recent report by Australia’s Medical Technologies and Pharmaceuticals Industry Growth Centre.

Axon Therapies Inc. has developed an ablation system and method that treats the underlying problems in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), with an eye toward improving their quality of life.

A study blending intravascular ultrasound and near-infrared spectroscopy, presented at TCT Connect 2020, makes the argument that lipid-rich, nonobstructive lesions are responsible for most major adverse cardiac events after percutaneous treatment.

As hospitals faced a deluge of patients early in the COVID-19 pandemic, many implemented remote solutions to manage individuals at home to keep from being overwhelmed – all at a speed unthinkable in more normal times. That experience promises to accelerate and transform telemedicine long after the threat of COVID-19 recedes, according to a report by Vizient Inc.

Spectrawave Inc. has named Eman Namati as its CEO with the charge of commercializing its flagship cardiac imaging technology. The 3-year-old, Bedford, Mass.-based medical imaging company has set an ambitious 24-month timeline for getting its photonic imaging technology for coronary artery disease into the clinic.

Medtronic plc has kicked off two clinical trials of its Evolut transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) system. One study will pit the self-expanding Evolut Pro and Pro+TAVR systems against Edwards Lifesciences Corp.’s balloon-expandable Sapien 3 and Sapien 3 Ultra transcatheter heart valves in small annulus patients.