LONDON – Three patients with complete spinal cord injury are able to walk independently after having specialized electrodes implanted below their lesions. The details were published in Nature Medicine on Feb. 7. This is a significant new milestone for the researchers at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, who in 2018 delivered proof that electrical stimulation can reactivate spinal neurons, in that case in three patients with partial spinal cord injury. “Here for the first time, we have developed purpose-made technology in order to precisely stimulate the spinal cord to restore movement after paralysis,” said Gregoire Courtine, professor of spinal cord repair at EPFL. Read More
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the COMPETES Act of 2022 in a narrow Feb. 4 vote that may help restore U.S. manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and the semiconductors that are critical for medical devices. However, the House bill also includes unrelated provisions such as a section dealing with health insurance costs, just one of several elements that are not seen in a similar Senate bill and which foreshadow a drag-inducing showdown between the two bills. Read More
Scientists from Healthbiocare GmbH, System Biologie AG and the University of Austria have published data indicating pan-cancer detection could be achieved by combining genetic and epigenetic biomarkers in plasma. The scientists developed a classification model that distinguished between healthy subjects and patients with solid tumors with 95.4% accuracy, 97.9% sensitivity, and 80% specificity. Read More
The Royal Academy of Engineering in the U.K. has revealed a new batch of 70 entrepreneurs, including some developers of med-tech solutions, for its Leaders in Innovation Fellowships Global (LIF Global) program. This comes just two months after the LIF Advance edition of the initiative, which had 15 chosen. The selected entrepreneurs will receive equity-free support over the next six months from the training and mentorship program. Read More
The FDA’s device center reported the addition of four device types to the ranks of class II devices, including one each for de novo petitions by Apple Inc., of Cupertino, Calif., and Roche Molecular Systems Inc., of Pleasanton, Calif. Read More
Med-tech happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Abbott, Devyser, Genesis, Heartflow, JC Medical, Millipore, Ortho Regenerative Technologies, Smartseq, Thermo Fisher Scientific. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Karl Storz, Photocure, Qiagen. Read More
