While perhaps best known for historical achievements in immuno-oncology and CNS disorders, the Swiss biotech sector is slowly cultivating a new area of expertise in dermatology. Scrip spoke with two firms applying cell therapy technologies to the challenging area of chronic and acute wounds.

A roundup of recent medtech strategic alliances, mergers & acquisitions and financings.

Tremendous progress has been made in the field of ablation therapy for atrial fibrillation (AF) over the past several years, and numerous device-based technologies to address this underserved and rapidly growing patient population are under clinical development. Minimally invasive, percutaneous AF ablation has evolved rapidly as well, although the procedure remains very challenging and limited to highly experienced centers.

After years of steady growth, the dialysis market is predicted to increase dramatically, and this growth will severely strain the current system of dialysis clinics where most of these procedures are performed. Home hemodialysis could help relieve this bottleneck but has not been a viable alternative to date because of the lack of effective device innovation. NxStage Medical has developed a system that makes home hemodialysis a therapeutic option, which could dramatically improve both the health and lifestyle of patients, along with the economic future of the dialysis market.