The U.S. House of Representatives has passed an agreement with the Biden administration on the debt ceiling, a deal that does not affect mandatory spending programs such as Medicare. However, the agreement, which still must gain the Senate’s stamp of approval, appears to eliminate any chance of yet more monies for the National Institutes of Health or the FDA, two programs of intense interest for companies in the life sciences. Read More
Startup Brightheart SAS raised €2 million (US$2.14 million) in seed financing, from Sofinnova Partners, that will allow the company to accelerate the development of its artificial intelligence software, which helps physicians detect congenital heart defects in fetuses. Brightheart hopes that the technology will improve the detection of complex congenital heart defects during prenatal ultrasound screening as intervening early could address fetal malformations or abnormalities and improve a baby’s chance of survival. Read More
If Orlucent Inc. has its way atypical moles in adults will soon give up their secrets to clinicians on the lookout for skin cancer, this after the Los Gatos, Calif.-based company received a U.S. FDA breakthrough device designation for its non-invasive Orlucent skin fluorescence imaging system. The system is a hand-held point-of-care molecular-based imaging device that identifies “tissue remodeling activity” inside atypical moles that could be a precursor to early melanoma. Read More
Wesper Inc., a longitudinal and wireless clinical-grade sleep testing platform, showed ‘exceptional accuracy’ in a head-to-head comparison with polysomnography in a study published in The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. The wireless, longitudinal sleep testing platform had a breathtaking 95% correlation with the cumbersome gold standard test for sleep apnea. Read More
With False Claims Act (FCA) whistle-blower lawsuits multiplying amid the complexity of regulations that often are unclear, the U.S. Supreme Court provided some clarity as to what constitutes a false claim in a unanimous opinion handed down June 1. But it’s not what the biopharma and med-tech industries were hoping for. Read More
Med-tech happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Avacta, Caris Lifesciences, Concertai, Coris Bioconcept, Nalu, Quipt, Remission Medical, Valve Medical. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Cardiorenal, Ezra, Royal Philips, Seegene. Read More
