Nanodx Inc. entered into a license agreement with IBM Research to use IBM’s nanoscale sensor technology and develop diagnostic platforms for rapid and cost-effective detection of various diseases, including COVID-19 and traumatic brain injury, among others. This marks IBM’s first collaboration to allow a medical device company to use its nanoscale technology. Read More
Pear Therapeutics Inc. released nine-month, real-world data showing long-term reduction in costly health care utilization categories, including inpatient stays and emergency department visits, in patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) who utilize its Reset-O prescription digital therapeutic. The findings suggest that Reset-O could help to stabilize patient outcomes long-term when used in conjunction with outpatient treatment. Read More
Medicare coverage of telehealth services in the U.S. received a boost during the COVID-19 pandemic, a change that stakeholders have argued should be made permanent. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed to extend coverage of some of these services throughout calendar year 2023 in the draft Medicare physician fee schedule, but some stakeholders are urging Congress to act before the end of the year to make these benefits permanent. Read More
10x Genomics Inc. launched its latest platform for single-cell analysis, the Chromium X Series, to cost-effectively "enable massively large-scale experiments," according to the company. The system cuts the cost of single-cell analysis 83%, from 12 cents to 2 cents per cell, a significant step toward reducing the costs low enough to make genomic sequencing widely available. Read More
The number of med-tech IPOs completed in the first half of 2021 is nearly as many as last year’s full year, and amounts raised through venture capital rounds in just six months are only about $100 million shy of record funds raised in all of 2020. Read More
Hoping to get Germany to drop its opposition to a proposed World Trade Organization (WTO) waiver of intellectual property (IP) rights, several U.S. lawmakers have asked to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel when she’s in Washington for a July 15 summit with President Joe Biden. Read More
It’s more than 20 years since the tobacco firm Philip Morris International Inc. commissioned a controversial research paper, “Public Finance Balance of Smoking in the Czech Republic,” which infamously argued that smokers cut state health care expenditure by dying early. The paper was considered an outrage and led to a high-profile apology from the company, after being widely derided by politicians and commentators internationally. The company’s July 9 proposal to buy the respiratory diseases firm Vectura Group plc for $1.2 billion is already looking just as provocative according to U.K. politicians and anti-smoking groups, who are calling for the government to intervene to stop it going ahead. Read More
Approval could come next year for Furoscix from Scpharmaceuticals Inc. (Scpharma), a solution of the standard-of-care heart failure diuretic furosemide formulated to a neutral pH and designed for outpatient use. Read More
New hires and promotions in the med-tech industry, including: Biolab Sciences, Diagnostic Biochips, Heru, NTT Research, Pelvital, Rapid Medical. Read More
Med-tech firms raising money in public or private financings, including: Castor, Dopavision, Entos, Intuitap, Kontrol, Lemaitre, Mammoth, Spire. Read More
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Atheart Medical, Curebase, Exagen, Inbios, Intuitap Medical, Medical Microinstruments, Pear Therapeutics, Spinex, Vessi Medical. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Coaptech, Tidal Medical. Read More
