In response to the continuing opioid epidemic, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brigham and Women’s Hospital developed a small implantable device that monitors heart rate, respiration and other vital signs indicative of an overdose, then automatically releases a dose of naloxone.
While preparing a follow-on phase III study of its Cardiamp cell therapy, Biocardia Inc. has mined positive interim data at a mean 20-month follow-up of all patients in the original Cardiamp HF Trial.
With the number of people with dementia in Australia expected to nearly double by 2054, the federal government is funding a new AU$50 million (US$32.76 million) biomedical and med-tech incubator program to develop new therapies, medical devices and digital health technologies to address dementia and cognitive decline.
Unless there’s a last-minute meeting of the minds, it looks like any extension of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) five-year intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines will be shelved, at least for now.
When life-saving inhalers sell in Europe at 1.5% to about 8% of their list price in the U.S., they’re bound to attract scrutiny, especially in a time when inequities in prescription drug prices are fueling more and more legislation to reduce U.S. prices.
An FDA culture that discourages scientific disagreement with U.S. administration policies may be a perennial problem regardless of the party in power. That’s one of the between-the-lines takeaways from a Jan. 3 letter the Republican leadership of the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf – along with a stern warning that the agency had better respond in a timely manner.
Six months out from the World Health Organization ending the global health emergency brought on by the pandemic, there’s no need for the World Trade Organization to expand a five-year intellectual property (IP) waiver for vaccines to COVID-19-related drugs, devices and diagnostics.
With the COVID-19 public health emergency ending in the U.S. next week, Congress is looking to use the lessons learned from the pandemic to draft a new iteration of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act to ensure the country is better prepared for the next pandemic.
While sorting out a second phase III study design for its cancer therapy and light device with the U.S. FDA, Soligenix Inc. produced positive results from a compatibility study evaluating Hybryte (synthetic hypericin sodium) for treating early stage cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). That data, according to Soligenix, bolster findings from the phase III FLASH study, which used the same combination in treating CTCL. According to Christopher Schaber, Soligenix CEO, the important corporate objectives for the compatibility study were to replicate results seen in the FLASH study.
Ophthalmic startup Eluminex Biosciences Ltd. closed a $40 million series B round to progress its pipeline of ophthalmic assets and recombinant human collagen technology. Eluminex’s pipeline includes multi-targeted antibody molecules for vision-threatening retinal diseases and an oral small molecule for rare inherited pediatric retinal dystrophies, but its lead asset, EB-301, is a biosynthetic cornea derived from recombinant human type III collagen.