The U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has given people looking to lose weight another treatment option by recommending endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) as a therapy to help treat obesity. The move comes amidst increasing awareness of the disease brought on by the growing prevalence of GLP-1 agonists.

The €173 million (US$187 million) in capital that Earlybird Health recently raked in from investors will go towards bolstering investment in European health care startups, many of which are still recovering from the impact of COVID-19, Thom Rasche, a partner at Earlybird Health, told BioWorld. The fund is looking to invest in the technologies that can improve patient care.

X-trodes Ltd. has received U.S. FDA 510(k) clearance for its Smart Skin solution, a wireless wearable technology that allows for medical-grade electrophysiological monitoring in clinics and at home. The company believes that the Smart Skin technology, which captures signals from the brain, heart, eyes and muscles, has the potential to significantly improve patient care.

Wandercraft SAS broadened its U.S. FDA clearance for the Atalante X to include rehabilitation in individuals with spinal cord injuries at levels T5 to L5. The self-balancing exoskeleton was already given the greenlight by the FDA for use in stroke rehabilitation in December 2022. “We are thrilled to have two FDA clearances, first for stroke and now spinal cord injury, in less than a year,” CEO Matthieu Masselin, told BioWorld.

Venture capital (VC) firm TVM Capital Life Science recently co-led a $16 million series A financing for Vektor Medical Inc., which has developed an AI-based tool that identifies potential arrhythmia source locations. The funding is part of TVM’s strategy of investing in med-tech companies which have no development risk and offer an exit opportunity in under four years.

The Versavue single-use flexible cystoscope, recently launched by Boston Scientific Corp. in the U.S., could help reduce the risk of infections in patients that comes from the improper reprocessing of reusable cystoscopes, Ron Morton, Boston Scientific chief medical officer, Urology told BioWorld.

Insulet Corp. received the greenlight from EU regulators to combine its Omnipod 5 automated insulin delivery (AID) system with Abbott Laboratories Freestyle Libre 2 Plus sensor to treat individuals aged two years and older with type 1 diabetes.

Toku Inc. recently obtained CE and UKCA marks for its artificial intelligence (AI) technology, Clair, which evaluates the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) using retinal images captured during an eye exam.

There is no doubt that the fundraising environment in Europe remains challenging for med-tech companies. Currently it seems like “the winner takes it all,” with companies that have de-risked their portfolio able to find investors to provide funds, while for those at the earlier stages, finding capital continues to be ‘tricky,’ Raphaël Wisniewski, partner at European private equity firm Andera Partners, told BioWorld in an interview.

Cyted Ltd. received U.S. FDA 510(k) clearance for its Endosign capsule technology, a non-endoscopic capsule sponge device used to collect pan-esophageal samples to detect esophageal pre-cancer and other conditions. The company believes that the minimally invasive test will be able to help prevent deaths from esophageal cancer when offered as a screening test to people on long-term medication for heartburn.