The former head of the U.S. NIH has sounded a warning that the uncertainty caused by the Trump Administration’s funding cuts and layoffs is blocking “critical work” and “paralyzing” biomedical research. “Every time we launch a new program, every time we continue to commit resources to ongoing work, those are important decisions that we make every single day, and in times like this, that decision-making is paralyzed,” said Monica Bertagnolli, who stood down as director of the NIH on Jan. 17.

As part of a U.S. government-wide reduction in force aimed at restructuring and streamlining federal agencies, 5,200 Health and Human Services employees reportedly received their pink slips over the weekend, with 1,165, or 22%, of those at the NIH.

Nearly six weeks after Johnson & Johnson paused the U.S. external evaluation of its Varipulse pulsed field ablation catheter to investigate several neurovascular events in initial cases, the med-tech giant resumed its limited market release with revised global instructions for use.

Dongkook Life Science Co. Ltd. (DKLS) priced a ₩18 billion (US$12.5 million) IPO on the Korea Exchange as South Korea’s first med-tech listing of the year.

Germitec SA raised $30 million in a series B financing round to bring Chronos, its chemical-free, ultraviolet-C (UV-C)-based disinfection system for ultrasound probes, to the U.S. market.

Med-tech M&As saw a strong start in January, totaling $4.51 billion, a significant jump from $18 million in December 2024 but lower than November’s $12.68 billion. Dealmaking reached $57.94 billion in 2024, averaging about $4.8 billion per month.