TORONTO – Montreal’s McGill University and the Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital (The Neuro) have entered a research agreement with Pasadena, Calif.-based Fuzionaire Diagnostics Inc. to detect and treat neurodegenerative diseases through molecular imaging.

Neurovasc Technologies Inc., of Laguna Hills, Calif., has entered a strategic partnership with the Wego Group that includes $34 million in funding to support the company’s product portfolio development and global clinical trial program. Specifically, the funding first will go toward studies of the company’s stent-retriever, designed to treat patients suffering an acute ischemic stroke, in markets such as Japan, the EU, U.S. and China.

London-based Livanova plc has entered a collaboration with Verily Inc., an Alphabet company, to enrich data from its RECOVER trial using tools and analytics developed by Verily. The study, which kicked off last September, is assessing the effectiveness of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy for patients with difficult-to-treat depression (DTD).

San Diego-based Cortechs Labs Inc. has developed an automated PET image analysis tool that identifies changes in specific brain structures associated with Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and other neurological disorders.

Artificial intelligence still has a lot to prove when it comes to its relevance in improving health care. But one bright spot was a deal last July between Dublin-based Medtronic plc and San Francisco-based startup Viz.ai Inc. to use the latter’s AI system that’s designed to spot a large vessel occlusion automatically in CT angiogram images.

Nevro Corp.’s stock was up following encouraging results detailed during its fourth-quarter earnings call. Management predicted a positive 2020, highlighting the potential of the U.S. spinal cord stimulation (SCS) market. Keith Grossman, chair, CEO and president of the company, noted that the SCS market slowed last year as a result of stocking issues – a challenge that affected both it and its competitors.

Cambridge, Mass., startup Enclear Therapies Inc. has secured $10 million in series A financing led by 20/20 Healthcare Partners. The company is developing a device to aid in treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative diseases by removing toxic proteins from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).

Fisher Wallace Laboratories of New York has filed a citizen’s petition with the U.S. FDA regarding the agency’s proposed class III designation for cranial electrotherapy stimulators (CES) for treatment of depression. The company argued that the agency disallowed evidence at an advisory hearing regarding this therapy provided by direct rather than alternating current, but also that the FDA had reneged on an earlier decision to classify these devices as class II devices.