The pandemic exponentially amplified the move to more patient-driven health care with at-home monitoring, wearable medical devices and telemedicine. Testing has arguably seen the greatest shift, led by emergency use authorizations (EUA) for dozens of rapid tests for SARS-CoV-2. Laboratory Corp. of American Holdings Inc. (Labcorp) stands to benefit even more from the trend with an EUA for an over-the-counter multiplex respiratory virus test and the launch of an at-home collection kit for testing hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) this week. Read More
Medtronic plc has presented three-year data on its global, multicenter, blinded, randomized and sham-controlled renal denervation (RDN) clinical program Spyral HTN-ON MED during the late-breaking clinical trial session at EuroPCR on May 17. The trial enrolled 80 typical uncontrolled hypertensive patients, randomized to RDN or sham control. Read More
The second generation of Boston Scientific Corp.’s Acurate Neo2 valve has demonstrated better performance than its predecessor, showing a threefold reduction of paravalvular leakage (PVL) said researchers. During the hotline/late-breaking trials session on May 17 at the EuroPCR meeting held in Paris, Andrea Buono, interventional cardiologist at Fondazione Poliambulanza Istituto Ospedaliero in Brescia, Italy, presented results from a large study comparing the performance of Acurate Neo and Acurate Neo2 in 13 Italian centers. Read More
Evotec AG and Sernova Corp. are joining forces in a bid to develop a functional cure for type 1 diabetes. The companies plan to file an IND early in 2024 for a combined cell therapy and medical device product comprising Evotec’s human beta cells, derived from the company’s induced pluripotent stem cell platform, and Sernova’s Cell Pouch delivery system, which provides transplanted cells with a vascularized, physiologically appropriate environment that enables them to secrete insulin and other hormones involved in regulating blood glucose levels. Read More
The European Commission (EC) has proposed new legislation directed toward formation of a European Health Data Space (EHDS), which is nominally intended to address some perceived gaps in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). While this legislative proposal seems to interact with both the GDPR and pending EU legislation on artificial intelligence, the EHDS takes on the massive challenge of compulsory interoperability of electronic health records (EHRs). The EC unveiled the proposal with an emphasis on health data accessibility, although both the European Council and the European Parliament will now have their say over how the legislation will ultimately read. Read More
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee has posted its version of U.S. FDA user fee legislation, a bill that echoes many of the primary features of the version already at play in the House of Representatives. One critical difference is that the Senate bill includes legislation that would enable the FDA to regulate lab-developed tests (LDTs), the so-called Verifying Accurate, Leading-edge IVCT Development (VALID) Act, the omission of which from the House bill ruffled a few feathers. The American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA) responded to the Senate bill with a May 17 statement applauding the inclusion of the VALID Act in the Senate user fee bill. Read More
Med-tech happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Coeptis, Grail, Invo Bioscience, Medaxiom, Onesky, Optigroup, Orasure, Ortho, Quidel, Scholte Medical. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Exactech, Jointmedica, Labcorp. Read More
