What is the future of med-tech innovation in the wake of COVID-19? That was the question addressed during the Advanced Medical Technology Association’s Virtual Medtech Conference, with members of industry providing some insight. “I think … that this is going to be in many ways a turning point,” changing the way stakeholders look at devices and the evidence supporting them, said Tom O’Brien, of Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) Ethicon unit.

In a fireside chat at the Advanced Medical Technology Association (Advamed)-sponsored Virtual Medtech Conference on Oct. 5, U.S. FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn addressed questions that have been circulating for months about the political pressure that the agency is facing to quickly approve a vaccine for COVID-19 by reiterating that any decisions will be “completely dependent on when data is mature” from phase III trials.

Researchers at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, the research arm of New York-based Northwell Health, have developed a noninvasive method for targeting stimulation of the vagus nerve. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) offers promise for treatment of a wide range of conditions, given the nerve's extensive involvement in regulating many organs, but has been constrained by adverse effects caused by off-target activation of fibers.

An international research team has identified a bacterial/viral combination more likely to be present in children with postinfectious hydrocephalus.

The COVID-19 pandemic has done little to encourage bipartisan comity in Washington, and the Oct. 2 hearing of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis reflected that partisan tension. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar noted, however, that the department is doing its best to cooperate with oversight of the vaccine program by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), but that the nearly three dozen GAO requests for oversight have come at a difficult time.

The Medicare clinical lab fee schedule (CLFS) in the U.S. has gone through some twists and convolutions in connection with the rate reset effort, but the suite of expensive, high-end tests is another source of spending concern. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) examined that question recently and is considering several possible solutions. Among these are a fixed-rate deflation metric from a starting price point and bundling with a provider’s bundled payment program, two possible solutions that each carry their own set of headaches.

Attributing recent reductions in certain U.S. prescription drug prices to intense congressional scrutiny rather than a biopharma industry commitment to affordability, Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) said Congress must put more guardrails in place and restructure how the industry does business.

Omnivision Technologies Inc. has developed the first all-in-one RGB-infrared image sensor designed for medical use. The OHO2A1S sensor offers simultaneous white-light RGB and infrared monochrome captures in one complementary metal oxide semiconductor sensor, enabling endoscopes used in oncology to be produced with just one sensor, reducing the size, cost and heat output of the devices.