In an effort to gain new insights about the novel coronavirus sweeping the globe, Boston-based Biofourmis Inc. is leveraging its artificial intelligence (AI)-driven remote monitoring platform to monitor Hong Kong patients diagnosed or suspected of having COVID-19. The remote monitoring and disease surveillance program, which kicked off just a few days ago, is being administered by the University of Hong Kong and includes Biofourmis’ Hong Kong-based joint venture, Harmony Medical Inc.

With trauma patients and those suffering from bleeding disorders, being able to quickly assess a person’s bleeding risk can be lifesaving, but most current tests to measure clotting ability are laboratory-based and don’t provide immediate results. To that end, the U.S. FDA has granted Cleveland-based Xatek Inc. breakthrough device designation for its Clotchip portable blood clotting sensor.

New York and Rehovot, Israel-based in vitro diagnostics startup Todos Medical Ltd. is developing blood tests for the early detection of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Now the company is looking to apply the technology in diagnosing infections, including the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

San Clemente, Calif.-based Glaukos Corp. reported 22% net sales growth to $65.8 million in the final quarter of 2019, up from $54.1 million in the same period a year ago. However, it also warned that increasing competition in the microinvasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) space could dampen 2020 growth in its U.S. glaucoma business. Speaking with analysts on a fourth-quarter earnings call, CEO Thomas Burns said good conversion rates and growing surgeon interest in its next-generation trabecular bypass device, Istent Inject, may not be enough to counter the headwind.

London-based Livanova plc has entered a collaboration with Verily Inc., an Alphabet company, to enrich data from its RECOVER trial using tools and analytics developed by Verily. The study, which kicked off last September, is assessing the effectiveness of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy for patients with difficult-to-treat depression (DTD).

Waveguide Corp. has launched the first portable, battery-powered nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) device, Waveguide Formμla, offering rapid, on-site screening and diagnostics. The Cambridge, Mass.-based startup is looking to advance the product for use in detecting infectious diseases and cancer.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Berlin-based Biotronik SE & Co. reported new data from the BIOFLOW-V trial showing that its Orsiro ultrathin strut drug-eluting stent (DES) continued to outperform Abbott Laboratories’ Xience DES through three years’ follow-up.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Cardiovalve Ltd., of Or Yehuda, Israel, scored a double hit with the U.S. FDA, winning a breakthrough device designation for its transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement system, as well as approval to conduct an early feasibility study in tricuspid regurgitation (TR).