Medtronic plc received the greenlight from the U.S. FDA for its latest deep brain stimulation system, the Percept RC. The rechargeable neurostimulator includes the company’s sensing technology which captures data from brain signals and allows for more personalized therapy.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published new enablement guidelines Jan. 10 to provide more consistency across technologies to ensure patent applications truly enable the breadth of their claims in keeping with the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision last year in Amgen Inc. v. Sanofi SA.
Intravascular ultrasound is the preferred imaging modality for a number of procedures conducted on the circulatory system, including some procedures performed in the peripheral vasculature, but adoption is seen in some quarters as sub-optimal. A trio of medical journals have published a consensus statement pressing the case for more widespread utilization of IVUS for peripheral artery disease, but one of the sources of drag is poor Medicare reimbursement, a problem that might only be resolved in a piecemeal fashion.
Ultromics Ltd. joined forces with Pfizer Inc. to expedite U.S. FDA clearance of its artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced platform to aid early diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis, also known as stiff heart syndrome. The company received FDA breakthrough device designation last year for Echogo Amyloidosis, which uses deep AI to analyze echocardiograms and detect the presence of cardiac amyloidosis, a serious condition often missed during standard heart assessments.
Biosense Webster Inc. scored approval from Japan’s Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare’s (MHLW) for its Varipulse pulsed field ablation platform to treat symptomatic drug-refractory recurrent paroxysmal atrial fibrillation on Jan. 9., making it the first PFA system approved in the country.
Industry may still be less than fond of the failure of the term “recall” to distinguish between corrections and market withdrawals, but the class I recall of the Insulet Omnipod 5 app for Android smartphones is a correction of some importance. This recall, one of the first to be announced by the FDA in 2024, addresses a software problem that could lead to overdose of insulin, a potentially lethal problem for which the company has already provided a fix.
The U.S. FDA’s latest draft guidance on discussions of off-label uses with doctors revisits a controversial subject that has previously migrated into the courts, and by some accounts, may do so yet again. In comments to the docket, the Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) argued that this latest attempt to regulate commercial speech is another example of the agency’s “flagrant disregard for drug and device manufacturers’ free speech rights,” which WLF seemed to suggest is an actionable violation of the First Amendment.
When life-saving inhalers sell in Europe at 1.5% to about 8% of their list price in the U.S., they’re bound to attract scrutiny, especially in a time when inequities in prescription drug prices are fueling more and more legislation to reduce U.S. prices.
The U.S. FDA granted breakthrough device designation to CG Bio Co. Ltd.’s spine implantation device, Novosis putty, making it the first bone substitute material developed in South Korea to gain the agency’s priority support. Novosis putty, successor to CG Bio’s first generation Novosis Ortho, combines a bone-forming protein called recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 2 (rhBMP-2; Nebotermin) with ceramic scaffolds to accelerate bone growth.
The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency finalized its plans for an overhaul of its med-tech regulatory system in a comprehensive approach that captures both in vitro diagnostics and artificial intelligence.
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