Johnson & Johnson Inc. is a few years into a restructuring of two of its main businesses, Medical Devices and Consumer. In Medical Devices, it has been aggressively shedding businesses that aren't contributing to growth, and investing to expand in its highest growth areas. Its efforts on this front seem to be paying off; during the second quarter both its Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices businesses outperformed Wall Street expectations, even as the Consumer group continued to lag.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) patients long were limited to medicating with a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) or undergoing laparoscopic surgery to reshape the lower end of the esophagus. A range of minimally invasive options now are available, including radiofrequency reshaping, endoscopic suturing and endoscopically placed fasteners.

Advances in diabetes monitoring, treatment and analytics are coming at a rapid pace. However, it's still not clear how insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) and the artificial pancreas systems, which combine these functions, can offer broad improvement in diabetes treatment at the population health level.

Biodesix Inc. already has a couple of proteomics-based blood tests on the market to help physicians determine the optimal treatment for a patient's lung cancer. The Boulder, Colo.-based startup expects that it has enough cash on hand to propel it to breakeven and is on track for an eventual IPO.

Patients suffering from severe emphysema have few good options. Once inhaled medications cease to be effective, highly invasive lung volume reduction surgery or lung transplantation are the options that are available only to select patients. Pulmonx Corp. has gained an FDA approval as part of the breakthrough device designation program for its Zephyr endobronchial valve system that offers a minimally invasive solution that's precisely targeted to each individual patient.