The European Commission and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently signed an arrangement to strengthen their cooperation on preparedness and response to public health threats.

The EU’s Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG) has advised the device industry that many manufacturers seem ill prepared for the transition to the Medical Device Regulation (MDR), which will be fully in force for all devices as of May 2024. MDCG said that that any leniency shown after that date will be granted only for devices that address an urgent public health need, potentially leaving many existing authorizations out in the cold.

Developers of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms in medical radiology tend to think of regulatory approval as the primary hurdle to market, but there is also the question of how to pay for the use of these products. Public and private payers obviously hold the purse strings, but appealing to payers is still not always as straightforward proposition as some would like, reinforcing the notion that coverage and reimbursement still combine to serve as one of the highest hurdles to market for AI and ML.

Samsara Vision Inc. signed a deal with China’s Lansheng Medical Corp. (Myvision) to bring Samsara’s next-generation visual prosthetic devices to mainland China, Macau, the Hanain Province, and Hong Kong.

Bipolar disorder (BPD) is disabling, destructive and notoriously difficult to diagnose. Research indicates that up to 40% of patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder or unipolar depression actually have BPD and treating them with antidepressants alone runs an elevated risk of worsening their condition. But the issue is not one-sided: other studies found that 30% to 60% of patients diagnosed with BPD do not meet the clinical criteria for the illness and may be taking powerful mood stabilizers needlessly while failing to receive potentially beneficial therapies.