Approvals

In this month’s Digital Health Roundup, Medtech Insight’s Marion Webb highlights AI discussions at the HLTH Europe conference and an interview with Motif Neurotech's CEO Jacob Robinson. Elizabeth Orr discusses DeepWell DTx's newly launched VR game for treating stress-related hypertension and anxiety. Natasha Barrow provides an overview of Digital Mental Health Technologies regulation in the UK and Brian Bossetta reports ‘the good and bad’ from Medtronic's report on digital technologies' use in the operating room. 

This week, Nipro Medical Corp. announced it will invest $397.8m to build a US-based production plant, generating 232 new jobs; both Baxter and Hamilton announced ventilator recalls; Imperative Care wins FDA clearance for its stroke catheter; Intelligent Ultrasound Group plc entered into a conditional sale and purchase deal to sell its Clinical AI business to GE HealthCare for £40.5m; RMI distributed 350m rapid test kits in the fight against HIV/AIDS; Jiangsu Shenli Medical Production Co., Ltd received a second FDA warning letter about quality and safety of plastic syringes.

This week, the US FDA authorized EUAs for at-home mpox tests and announced a public workshop on implanted brain devices; the IMDRF published guiding principles on good machine learning practices for AI; and Quest announced its deal to acquire a Canadian diagnostic firm.

A recent review of orthopedic device approvals between 2018 and 2022 found that less than 10% of 510(k) devices – and less than 5% of PMA and de novo products – have been authorized for use in children, highlighting the ongoing lack of pediatric devices. 

This week, AdvaMed and MITA win appeal to prevent repair companies from hacking medical devices, the FDA cleared Abbott’s Libre Rio CGM for OTC sales, J&J MedTech wins expanded clearance for Velys knee medical robot, the FDA updates its AI program, Canary Speech secures $13m in series A funding and Xeltis won FDA approval for an IDE submission to begin enrolling patients for a pivotal study for aXess.  

This week, Medline announced recalls of tracheal tubes; Eko Health raised $41m in Series D funding; and the US FDA announced participation in collaborative communities focused on brain-computer interface devices and more.

The FDA has given the green light to over-the-counter sales of Abbott’s Lingo blood glucose monitoring device, which is intended for use by healthy people who want to track the crucial biomarker.

The US FDA has granted 510(k) clearance to a California medical technology company for a brain monitoring device that detects seizures in patients with brain injury or trauma.

This week, the ACLA filed a lawsuit against the US FDA; Philips recalled around 100,000 ventilators; women’s health companies Natural Cycles and Gameto padded their coffers; and Canary Medical and J&J’s Ethicon received FDA nods.

This week, an FDA advisory panel recommended approval of the Guardant Shield blood test for colon and rectal cancers; the EU Council signed off on the world’s first AI law; and the FDA challenged innovators to develop AI/ML technologies to detect gait freezing in individuals with Parkinson’s disease

Will it be necessary to provide a new medical device notified body opinion when changes are being made to the medicine in an integral drug-device combination product? This is just one of the new topics addressed in an updated Q&A document from the European Medicines Agency.

A recent survey by trade group TEAM-NB found that the number of certificates issued under the IVDR and MDR doubled between 2022 and 2023. However, application completeness remained an issue, with notified bodies estimating that a third of applications were less than 25% complete.

This week, a House subcommittee advanced a two-year telehealth extension, Chuck Schumer and a bipartisan group of senators introduced a plan for regulating AI, the FDA launched its new online RST Catalog, NIH recommends targeted radiotherapy cancer treatment, and Oura announced new health features for its smart ring.

Notal Vision, a Virginia-based patient-centric ophthalmic remote monitoring services provider, has won de novo marketing authorization from the US FDA for a product that allows patients to keep tabs on their age-related macular degeneration while at home.

Masimo receives US regulatory clearance for Stork OTC baby monitoring system six months after Owlet received first clearance for its Dream Sock following a regulatory stumble which halted sales of a previous device, Smart Sock, in 2021.

Teal Health reached a significant milestone in its mission to bring a prescription-based, at-home, self-collect cervical cancer screening device to market.