Zurich-based startup Ava Science Inc. recently issued a public call for partners and funding to further research the potential usefulness of its fertility wearable, known as Ava Bracelet, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With an eye toward helping those potentially suffering from COVID-19, Mountain View, Calif.-based Alivecor Inc. said its six-lead electrocardiogram (ECG), known as the Kardiamobile 6L, now is allowed for use in the measurement of a patient's QTc and detection of QT prolongation. The Kardiamobile 6L enables patients to take a six-lead ECG outside a doctor’s office.
DUBLIN—Can high-dose inhaled nitric oxide (NO) make a meaningful contribution to patients with COVID-19 infection? The FDA was sufficiently persuaded by the data presented by Bellerophon Therapeutics Inc. to grant it expanded access approval for its iNOpulse system for pulmonary delivery of NO.
Abbott Laboratories, of Abbott Park, Ill., is the latest company to receive emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. FDA for a test to detect SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The company said it is shipping 150,000 Realtime SARS-CoV-2 tests immediately to existing customers in the U.S., with plans to produce 1 million tests a week by the end of the month.
President Donald Trump has issued an executive order enabling the Defense Production Act, which gives the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services broader leeway to conscript industrial production to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak.
PERTH, Australia – Australian digital health company Resapp Health Ltd. was down nearly 52% following news that the U.S. FDA rejected its de novo request for its smartphone application for the diagnosis and management of respiratory disease. The agency rejected the application, citing the need for additional information to demonstrate that the “clinical benefits of the device outweigh the risks,” CEO Tony Keating told analysts during a March 12 conference call on the news.
The U.S. capacity for SARS-CoV-2 testing is limited by several items, including the swabs used to collect patient specimens, but the supply of reagents has been front and center recently. Despite those concerns, several private test makers said they are quickly ramping up production, including Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., of Waltham, Mass., which said it has enough supplies of all types on hand to provide 2 million reactions per week, a volume that should increase to 5 million per week in April.
With medical researchers across the globe adjusting to the far-reaching impacts of COVID-19, commercial and academic trialists are taking action to protect essential studies. Regulators, too, are now joining the effort in a more concerted way, with the FDA issuing new guidance for industry, investigators and institutional review boards on conducting clinical trials during the pandemic.
As companies scramble to develop diagnostic tests and vaccines for COVID-19, there is a need for effective treatments for patients suffering severe respiratory effects from the novel coronavirus. To that end, Beyond Air Inc., of Garden City, N.Y., and Rehovot, Israel, has applied to the U.S. FDA to conduct an IDE trial of its inhaled nitric oxide (NO) system, Lungfit Bro, in COVID-19 patients.
LONDON – Behold.ai Ltd. has secured U.S. FDA 510(k) approval for use of its Red Dot image recognition algorithm in the automatic diagnosis of life-threatening pneumothorax (collapsed lung). The product completes the analysis immediately, sending an alert to the radiologist as soon as an X-ray is taken. “It does in 30 seconds what would normally take up to 30 minutes,” said Simon Rasalingham, CEO of London-based Behold.ai.