Known for its implantable ventricular assist device, Heartware International Inc. (Framingham, Mass.) (NASDAQ: HTWR) defended its pending acquisition of Valtech Cardio Ltd. (Yehuda, Israel) in response to a notice from Engaged Capital LLC nominating three directors for Heartware's board. The threat comes six months ahead of the company's annual meeting, usually held in June.

A prominent Canadian anesthesiologist has given thumbs up to a new closed-loop device for delivering more customized anesthetic care and that may one day be used on the military battlefield. Richard Merchant, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada and an anesthesiologist at the Royal Columbia Hospital (Burnaby, British Columbia) participated in a 400-patient clinical trial of Icontrol-RP, designed by researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC; Vancouver).