The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been exceptionally active in the mergers and acquisitions space for the past 18 months, but Congress might soon amplify these agencies’ ability to suppress these transactions. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who chairs the competition subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a recent hearing that vertical mergers have flown largely off the enforcement radar, a problem that Congress could address by several means, including by providing the FTC with a heftier budget to pursue these cases. Read More
The growing number of drugs gaining U.S. FDA approval for Alzheimer’s disease has kept their ability to reduce amyloid beta and tau proteins in the news, but the degenerative disease is not simply a matter of tangles and deposits. A loss of synaptic plasticity and disrupted neural networks underlie the signature impairment of memory and cognition – and those, researchers showed in a recent study in Brain, can be strengthened by non-invasive stimulation that addresses the brain’s electrical dysfunction. Read More
The U.K. government and the health care industry should focus more on behavioral-based approaches and preventative care in a bid to tackle health inequality, rising costs and an ageing population, Anton Derlyatka, CEO and co-founder of Sweatcoin Ltd., told BioWorld. Sweatcoin is a step-counting app that rewards users for their daily steps. The company has worked with the NHS for the last three years and is currently working on pilot programs to help tackle type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases by incentivizing people to move. Read More
Advocates are pressing the U.S. Congress to pass legislation to require more Medicare coverage of telehealth and telemedicine, but the Office of Inspector General (OIG) continues to report instances of fraud in this area. OIG reported July 24 that government attorneys had forced a guilty plea out of a telemedicine provider who has agreed to pay $44 million to deal with charges of fraud perpetrated over a period of three and a half years. Read More
It only took a couple of billion-dollar transactions in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023 to push med-tech dealmaking values above all other recent years. Despite the surge in value, the volume of deals is level with other quarters. Read More
New hires and promotions in the med-tech industry, including: Allurion Technologies, Angiodynamics, Becton, Dickinson and Co., Braincheck, Inspire Medical Systems, Perosphere Technologies. Read More
Med-tech happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Aptitude Medical, Baxter, Caredx, Enzo, Epibone, Glucotrack, Illumina, Labcorp, Medigo, Metasight Diagnostics, Pacemate, Pillar Biosciences, Vantive. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Baropace, Imperative Care, Numares. Read More
