A French public-private consortium of seven med-tech companies, research institutes and specialist cancer hospitals is launching a new project to standardize and improve access to health care data for cancer research. Paris-based Arkhn SAS and Owkin SAS joined forces with INRIA, the French national institute for research in digital science and technology, to launch Oncolab.

Immunovia AB is progressing a study evaluating its Immray Pancan-d blood test for the early detection of pancreatic cancer in patients with new onset type 2 diabetes. Studies have found that type 2 diabetes is a major risk factor for developing pancreatic cancer, and the screening of molecular biomarkers may help patients access treatment before they develop symptoms. The company’s lab-developed test (LDT) measures nine serum biomarkers that, when combined in an algorithm, can detect pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Companies in the device and diagnostics spaces are familiar with how government agencies react to acquisitions that bolster the acquiring company’s product pipeline, but vertical mergers provoke a different set of regulatory concerns. The European Commission (EC) recently updated its guidelines for vertical agreements, a development that could hamper some EU corporate activity going forward.

Envision Technologies BV’s latest artificial intelligence (AI)-powered smart glasses for the blind and visually impaired are designed to help with reading, scanning faces and navigating everyday tasks. This visual assistant was introduced at California State University Northridge (CSUN) 2022 Assistive Technology Conference. Envision has updated its AI-based platform and ecosystem with improved optical character recognition (OCR) and better text recognition with contextual intelligence.

The University of Central Florida (UCF) and Orlando Health are testing new medical technology designed to identify blood clots more quickly in surgery. The monitoring device consists of a small optical fiber that uses red blood cells to track the process of blood coagulation in patients so doctors can watch for life threatening blood clot formation.