Dublin-based med-tech conglomerate Medtronic plc took the time to show off its investigational minimally invasive robotic surgery system that's expected to squarely take on long-time segment leader Intuitive Surgical Corp. Ahead of the robotic surgery-focused investor event on the afternoon of Sept. 24, Medtronic unveiled details of the system in an SEC filing.

San Diego-based Exagen Diagnostics Inc. has a somewhat unique business model. It's aiming to both improve diagnostics and monitoring for autoimmune patients, but also to partner with biopharmas to promote better testing – and even to market related therapeutics to autoimmune specialists.

San Diego-based Exagen Diagnostics Inc. has a somewhat unique business model. It's aiming to both improve diagnostics and monitoring for autoimmune patients, but also to partner with biopharmas to promote better testing – and even to market related therapeutics to autoimmune specialists.

Washington-based life sciences conglomerate Danaher Corp. has executed a long-anticipated spinout for its dental products business Envista Holdings Corp. via a $589 million IPO. Based in Brea, Calif., the company priced a bit below the middle of the anticipated share price range at $22 and sold 26.8 million shares, as it had planned.

Pleasanton, Calif.-based 10x Genomics Inc. priced its initial public offering to raise $390 million and then immediately climbed in the first hours of trading. The single-cell sequencing company had upwardly revised its share price range twice – and then priced above the latest one at $39 per share, heading to above $55 (NASDAQ:TXG) in its first few hours as a public company. That gave it a market cap of about $5.1 billion. 10x Genomics also took advantage of its momentum by boosting the number of shares to 10 million from the anticipated 9 million.

There have been three oncology drug approvals by the U.S. FDA over the last few years that were based solely on a genetic biomarker, rather than the location in the body where the tumor originated. But to make that tissue-agnostic approach a reality for oncology patients, detecting those genetic biomarkers will have to become increasingly easy and standardized.

There have been three oncology drug approvals by the U.S. FDA over the last few years that were based solely on a genetic biomarker, rather than the location in the body where the tumor originated. But to make this tissue-agnostic approach a reality for oncology patients, detecting those genetic biomarkers will have to become increasingly easy and standardized.