Respiratory

“Infectious disease should be treated in the community, not in hospitals,” Alex Batchelor, Pictura Bio CEO, told Medtech Insight at the Anglonordic Life Science Conference on 3 April in London.

Medtech Insight sat down with Intuitive Surgical CEO Gary Guthart at the recent LSI USA conference to discuss the full launch of the new da Vinci 5 robotic system and planned digital enhancements. Guthart also offered his views on health care interoperability, AI regulation, outpatient surgeries, autonomous robots, and how the company is harnessing technology to shape the future of robotic surgery.

Cambridge, UK-based breath biopsy company Owlstone Medical will apply its volatile organic compound analysis platform in an attempt to develop a test for the identification and monitoring of pseudomonas aeruginosa in patients with cystic fibrosis.

The US FDA has announced seven device safety actions in recent days. The most serious, which relates to a manufacturing defect in Boston Scientific’s Accolade pacemaker, has been linked to 832 injuries and two deaths.

Anita Jackson is facing 25 years for device adulteration and a host of other charges. She says the trial and appeals court failed to consider her defense.

Hologic attains full US Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance for its Aptima SARS-CoV-2 assay, which reached market under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). Overall, Hologic’s “best-performing” molecular diagnostic business continues to grow despite the decline in revenue for COVID-19 assays and related items.

For the fourth time in as many years the FDA has issued a communication concerning a key accessory from Olympus used in several types of urological procedures. This time, however, the agency has added a class I recall confirmation to its original early alert on the device issued in December 2024. A device safety specialist provided Medtech Insight with a deeper understanding of the problem as well as overall scope safety.

Inflammatix received US FDA clearance to market its TriVerity Test System to help emergency departments quickly triage patients suspected of having acute infection or sepsis. Medtech Insight spoke with Inflammatix CEO Tim Sweeney about the company’s business strategy and marketing plans.

In this second roundup of innovative technologies seen or demoed at CES 2025, Medtech Insight tunes into heartbeat-listening earbuds, vision aids for people with macular degeneration, UTI-detecting toilets, non-invasive injection devices, hot flash-cooling wristband, mobility-aiding smart shoes, and robotic aids for cerebral palsy.

The director of the US FDA’s device center is sounding the alarm on the scarcity of critical devices for pediatric patients and says the agency is focused on solutions to this “unique” challenge.

In this first of a two-part series from CES, Medtech Insight tunes into two companies that developed AI-powered cameras to detect respiratory diseases and chronic diseases respectively, two companies offering at-home testing for cholesterol, and a saliva test to help detect symptoms of perimenopause.

In this week’s Digital Health Roundup, Medtech Insight’s Marion Webb brings highlights from Deloitte’s 2025 Life Sciences Outlook Report with medtech leaders’ forecasting significant investments in AI/GenAI. Brian Bossetta talks about the US FDA’s newly formed Digital Health Advisory Committee. Elizabeth Orr highlights the pros and cons of penetration testing for cybersecurity and talks about the US FDA’s final guidance on pre-determined change control plans. Natasha Barrow highlights UK MHRA's AI Airlock Pilot program and MANIFEST.

This week, HistoSonics announced it will bring its ultrasound system for destroying liver tumors into VA hospitals, Edwards Lifesciences reports encouraging TRISCEND II trial results at TCT, study finds blood test for CRC screening are less cost-effective than alternatives, and more.

This week, Establishment Labs Holdings announced the FDA gave it premarket approval for Motiva breast implant, Cologuard lands FDA approval for Cologuard Plus and GE HealthCare gets FDA nod for a new imaging agent. The FDA announces another expansion for TAP into ophthalmology and radiology. The AAMI and CTA will join forces to develop standards for AI and ML-enabled health care products.  

Philips has issued a recall of various Trilogy ventilators due to safety issues that may affect their ability to properly function. The US FDA has designated the recall class I, its most serious.

Philip Morris described a scenario of being essentially blacklisted by the health care sector and its CDMO partners as it threw in the towel on its £1.1bn acquisition of UK inhalation specialist Vectura. It agreed to offload the firm at a fraction of the initial cost.

According to Zacks Equity Research, the new trial seeks to support AlphaVac’s adoption in the European market, where pulmonary embolism prevalence and severity is an estimated 435,000 events annually.

Smiths Medical has recalled scores of Bivona tracheostomy tubes due to a manufacturing defect that can result in disastrous consequences. The company reports multiple injuries, and one death, linked to the devices.

This week, a Delaware court awarded Auris Health shareholders $1bn in a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson; Abbott recalled some FreeStyle Libre 3 sensors; and McKesson purchased a controlling interest in a Florida cancer care chain.

The US Food and Drug Administration released six warning letters and two close-outs last month, including four warnings to marketers of unauthorized continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) cleaners or sanitizers.