Quanta Dialysis Technologies Ltd. received the greenlight from the U.S. FDA for the use of its portable dialysis system at home. The clearance brings a much-needed option for patients with end-stage renal disease to receive their treatment in the comfort of their own homes and without a rigid dialysis schedule.

The U.S. FDA’s new draft guidance for the voluntary incorporation of patient preference information (PPI) in device development says that PPI would be included in product labels for cleared or approved medical devices.

Almost a year after U.S. FDA approval of the first pulsed field ablation device for treatment of atrial fibrillation, Johnson & Johnson secured FDA approval for its Varipulse system, intensifying competition in the rapidly growing market.

Cell and gene therapy companies are the beneficiaries of positive changes along the regulatory path that the U.S. FDA is paving for them, according to a panel of executives who spoke at the BioFuture 2024 conference in New York.

While uncertainty often casts a shadow on the Street, U.S. investors welcomed the presidential and congressional election results with a late-night surge that carried into the morning Nov. 6. The Dow Jones peaked at 1,380.47 points early the day after, up 3.27% from Election Day itself and hitting its highest point of the year so far. The celebration extended to the biotech sector, with the BioWorld Index, which covers more than 500 companies, up 17.06% for the year, compared with a 12.28% increase for the year on Nov. 1.

“I think elections are like pregnancy. … Everyone puts all of the energy into D-day – the birth. We’ve had the gender reveal, but what really, really matters is what happens now and the path ahead.” That was the instant response of Emma Walmsley, CEO of GSK plc, reacting to breaking news from the U.S. that Donald Trump has won a second term in office.

Celltrion Inc. posted preclinical study results of two new antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) candidates – CT-P70 and CT-P71 – at the World ADC 2024 conference in San Diego Nov. 6, with plans to move the assets into clinical trials. Poster presentations of both ADC candidates “drew significant attention from the attendees” at the oncology meeting, Incheon, South Korea-based Celltrion said, while highlighting its efforts to transition from a biosimilar maker to a novel therapy developer.

The EU’s still-new regulations for medical devices and in vitro diagnostics are often seen as drivers of current or impending shortages of these products, but Oliver Eikenberg of regulatory consultancy Pure Global is unimpressed by such claims. Eikenberg said much of the drag on the EU system is engendered by device makers that are failing to get their regulatory affairs in order – a problem neither Brussels nor the notified bodies can fix.