Medtronic plc acted on the increase in M&A and expansion of its investment ecosystem touted at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference earlier this month with a $90 million infusion into Brisbane, Australia-based Anteris Technologies Global Corp. The investment had been contingent on a public offering of stock by Anteris, which it completed on Jan. 22. Together, the new funds for the biomimetic heart valve company totaled $320 million.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has cracked open its coverage policy for transcatheter aortic valve replacement devices a second time, and a wide range of stakeholders are providing feedback. Where the agency will land on questions such as the need for continued evidence development is difficult to predict, however, given that the agency is hearing anything but unanimity on the question.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp. execs no doubt danced a little jig on the release of the latest European Society of Cardiology/European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery guidelines for valvular heart disease. The update established a simplified pathway for severe aortic stenosis (AS) that eliminated the previous divide between symptomatic and asymptomatic severe AS.