Exero Medical Ltd. aims to improve monitoring the gastrointestinal system after surgery with a wireless, biodegradable anastomotic leak sensor implant. It has started a tiny five-patient, first-in-human study as a proof of concept for its technology.

Diagnostic firm AnchorDx Medical Co. Ltd. is now working with the Lung Cancer Initiative at Johnson & Johnson in a four-year lung cancer study that aims to enable early detection and diagnosis of the disease in China. The study takes place at six hospitals in the country and is expected to be completed in December 2024.

PARIS – Inheart SAS completed its first funding round of $4.2 million to improve cardiac arrhythmia treatment using medical imaging, artificial intelligence and digital simulation. This fund round was led by Elvia Partners SAS, a Parisian investment fund managed by Xavier Lazarus specializing in deep tech, and Aquitaine Science Transfer, a company accelerating technology transfer, from the University of Bordeaux.

The U.S. FDA announced July 18 that it has granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) to Quest Diagnostics Inc. for the company’s real-time, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction test for the SARS-CoV-2 virus in a development that FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn described as “an important step forward.”

Commercial continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) require some access to a patient’s blood, typically through tiny needles embedded in a wearable patch sensor. But Movano Inc. is working to develop a CGM that is based on radio frequency technology to monitor glucose levels via a noninvasive, external wearable, likely in a form factor akin to a watch or a wrist-worn fitness wearable.

HONG KONG – Incheon, South Korea-based Celltrion Inc. will start manufacturing its COVID-19 treatment for clinical trials and commercial distribution, even though it’s only reached phase I.

The Xpert MTB/XDR test developed by the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) and Cepheid Inc. quickly indicates whether a patient has a dangerous – and rapidly increasing – strain of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (TB). The new test enables clinicians to return results in 90 minutes and see immediately whether the pathogen would respond to standard first- or second-line therapies.

The next phase of testing for the COVID-19 pandemic will hopefully include the roll-out of tests for neutralizing antibodies for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but there are some roadblocks. The FDA’s Tim Stenzel said the agency has a limited amount of information to offer regarding emergency use authorizations for these tests, a predicament that might not resolve until several applicants are in and the agency can see some information that will aid in development of performance and validation standards.

Diversified health care player Abbott Laboratories did better than expected when it reported second quarter earnings. The Abbott Park, Ill.-based company is one of the earliest to start reporting for this period, which in the U.S. was characterized by an initial heavy impact from the ongoing pandemic.