The latest U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) hearing on the merger between Illumina Inc., and Grail Inc., highlighted some sharp disagreements over the impact of the transaction on the market for multi-cancer early detection (MCED) tests, but Illumina has vowed to take steps to blunt any such effects in an open offer.

The U.S. FDA’s use of remote regulatory assessments (RRAs) during the pandemic may have been inevitable, but a proposed continuation of the program in the endemic phase of the SARS-CoV-2 contagion hasn’t necessarily won over device manufacturers.

Getinge AB reported that intraortic balloon pumps (IABPs) manufactured by its Datascope subsidiary are in short supply following a recall of some of these devices in 2019. Getinge said manufacturing of units and parts is proceeding at the maximum pace allowed by supply chain volatility and recommended that hospitals facing shortages contact other nearby hospitals in the event of a lack of device availability.

The ability to inexpensively predict events such as stroke and heart attack is something of a holy grail for cardiologists, and a new study presented at this year’s annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North American (RSNA) provides just that capability. A study of an algorithm developed to examine a single chest X-ray suggests that the data generated by the algorithm can be as effective in establishing the patient’s risk of these events as a standard approach that relies on information that isn’t always readily available to the clinician.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has moved decisively in the area of mergers and acquisitions recently, but the agency also has a footprint in the enforcement space for health data disclosure. The FTC’s Ronnie Solomon said in a Dec. 1 public meeting that the agency will begin “thinking outside the box about what health information is in the 21st Century,” adding that the FTC is eyeing a more stringent enforcement regime regarding personal health data disclosures in the coming new year.