Holliston, Mass.-based Harvard Apparatus Regenerative Technology Inc. (HART) is seeking patent protection for synthetic structural support devices for use in esophageal tissue regeneration, in which the synthetic structural supports have been seeded with cells (e.g., mesenchymal stem cells) to form a cellular sheath on the supports’ outer surfaces.

Body: The U.K.’s Medicines and Health Care Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has a program designed to facilitate more rapid market access for medical devices of urgent need, and now the agency has put money into the policy.

The Versavue single-use flexible cystoscope, recently launched by Boston Scientific Corp. in the U.S., could help reduce the risk of infections in patients that comes from the improper reprocessing of reusable cystoscopes, Ron Morton, Boston Scientific chief medical officer, Urology told BioWorld.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the circulatory system devices panel of the medical devices advisory committee for the U.S. FDA showed some love for Abbott Laboratories’ Triclip transcatheter edge-to edge repair (TEER) system for leaky tricuspid heart valves.

New York-based Viewmind Inc. has applied for patent protection of methods and systems for detecting neurological disorders and/or measuring, fine-motor skills, processing speed, decision making, and cognitive processes by measuring eye movements, oculomotor features and pupil behavior.

The U.S. FDA has posted information on the regulatory review period for several medical devices that incorporate patented inventions, such as the determination for the Simplify artificial cervical disc by Simplify Medical Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif. According to the FDA, the company seeks to tack nearly 1,100 days back on to the patent in question, an additional three years that may play a significant role in the company’s attempt to monetize the patent in question.