Eko Devices Inc. launched a redesigned app and smart stethoscope system to detect heart disease during a regular physical, potentially reducing the time to diagnosis and treatment for America’s number one killer. The system incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) to identify heart murmurs and atrial fibrillation with performance the company says is on par with cardiologists.

Diagnostic imaging group Bracco Imaging SpA signed a licensing and collaboration agreement with Philochem AG. The companies will focus on developing and commercializing a small molecule for diagnostic imaging applications that can detect metastatic solid tumors in cancer patients.

Resapp Health Ltd. saw its stock shoot up 35% on the heels of positive clinical results for its new smartphone-based COVID-19 screening test. In a pilot clinical trial of 741 patients recruited in the U.S. and India, digital health company Resapp’s screening test, which uses machine learning to analyze the sound of a patient’s cough, correctly detected COVID-19 in 92% of people with the infection.

Medications are available to treat many mental disorders, but they’re only effective if patients adhere to the treatment. A distribution agreement between Beckman Coulter Inc. and Saladax Biomedical Inc. aims to improve patient outcomes by providing health care professionals with tests to assess treatment compliance and individual patient drug response.

Biological Dynamics Inc.’s Verita platform correctly identified 96% of patients with stage I pancreatic cancer, a study in Nature Communications Medicine demonstrated. The platform uses protein biomarkers present in extracellular vesicles and showed an overall 71% sensitivity and 99.5% specificity in pathologically confirmed stage I and II pancreatic, ovarian and bladder cancer.

Clinical researchers from Karl Landsteiner University in Krems, Austria, have been conducting a prospective study of a new diagnostic technique for bronchoscopy tissue sampling aimed at patients with unclear diffuse parenchymal disease. They have assessed morbidity and 30-day and 90-day mortality following transbronchial lung cryobiopsy. The team recently published their findings in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease.

Sophia Genetics SA and Realm Idx Inc. established a collaboration for co-development of new genomic applications and their commercialization. The companies hope to expand next-generation sequencing research and multimodal data streams to improve cancer diagnostics and treatment outcomes.

At the AD/PD 2022 international conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases, AC Immune SA presented images showing its positron emission tomography (PET) tracer detecting pathological alpha-synuclein (a-syn) in human subjects’ brains. The abnormal accumulation of a-syn, a natively unfolded and soluble presynaptic protein, is a neuropathological feature of neurodegenerative disorders.

Oculogica Inc. has signed an agreement with Minnetronix Inc. to launch a diagnostic device that tracks eye movements to detect possible brain concussion, this after receiving FDA clearance in December for its fourth iteration of the artificial intelligence-driven, battery-operated Eyebox.