The "lame duck" session of Congress before newly elected members take their seats in January may be the best shot available for the device industry to win permanent device tax repeal, lobby group AdvaMed says. The group is making a major effort to repeal the tax before the new Congress takes over.

US FDA officials clarified how devices can qualify for an ongoing special 510(k) pilot program during a Nov. 8 online seminar.

Recently announced US National Evaluation System for health Technology "test cases" will be evaluated for up to a year by the NEST Coordinating Center after which collaborating device-makers may be in a better position to use real-world evidence to support new pre-market device submissions. The test cases will be measured, in part, based on their ability to identify brand-specific devices in the NEST Network Collaborators’ real-world datasets.

NHS England's IVD and pathology sector is undergoing a major reorganization to make it fit for the future, responsive to growing demand and more patient-friendly. The plans are helping to change mindsets locally about how IVDs and pathology services should be delivered, according to speakers at a recent summit.

The balance of power will be shifting in Washington, DC, following the Nov. 6 US midterm elections, but that probably will not mean major changes for medtech policies. Here are some key takeaways from the election for device and diagnostics companies.

With most of the Nov. 6 election tally completed, it’s clear there will be many new faces for the device industry to engage with in the halls of Congress, but the sector still appears to have a significant group of supporters on Capitol Hill. Also, several medtech-relevant measures were on the ballot.

FDA’s latest update to Unique Device Identification compliance deadlines says the agency won’t enforce direct marking UDI rules for some existing devices if the UDI can be determined in other ways.

The chair of the Medical Device Single Audit Program (MDSAP) Regulatory Authority Council is warning of "instability" in industry if the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Management Board has its way and makes changes now to international quality systems standard ISO 13485.

Device firms don't have to conform to the latest version of ISO 13485 until March 2019, yet the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Management Board is champing at the bit to open up the quality systems standard for a rewrite. In response, ISO Technical Committee 210 has developed a survey to determine how changing the standard will affect device-makers and other stakeholders. TC210 wants to "gather opinions from the users [of ISO 13485] to justify why no immediate revision is desired, especially in light of all the regulatory changes that are coming," TC210 delegate Kim Trautman says. The survey closes Nov. 9.

Medtech Insight highlights Q3 2018 results from some of the leading IVD players. In this edition, we spotlight some of the big companies including Roche Diagnostics, Thermo Fisher Scientific, bioMérieux, and Becton Dickinson.

RedMed Inc. is continuing to invest aggressively in its "software-as-a-service" offerings with the addition of MatrixCare, a provider of long-term post-acute care software. See what MatrixCare CEO John Damgaard said about it here.

Stryker and plaintiff attorneys are hashing out an agreement to settle thousands of lawsuits brought by patients who say they were injured by the device-maker's hip implants.

This week, a new corporate development senior VP arrives at clinical and research diagnostics firm Abcam, a VP opts out of business development post at Danaher to strategize for Agilent Tech, and a supply chain exec departs J&J.

This edition of Medtech Money Flow rounds up the M&A and venture financing deals, as recorded in our M&A and VC Deal Trackers, between Oct. 29 and Nov. 4, 2018.  

ResMed, one of the dominant players in the sleep-disorder market, has signed a definitive deal to buy Minnesota-based MatrixCare to augment its expanding software-as-a-service business with MatrixCare's electronic health record platform for long-term care settings.

Promising new results from a pilot study of Abiomed’s Impella device to reduce damage after myocardial infarction sets the company up to start a pivotal study, which, if successful, could change how patients are treated immediately after an attack.

When ALung Technologies was selected in 2015 by US FDA to participate in the agency's Expedited Access Pathway program for its novel Hemolung device, the firm wasn't necessarily sure what it was getting itself into. See what ALung CEO Pete DeComo said about the pathway – now called the Breakthrough Devices Program – here.

A snapshot of global medical device approvals captured during the past week in Medtech Insight's Approvals Tracker. Two devices to help surgeons performing thyroid surgery made the list, as did several devices in the diabetes space.

With 25 device and diagnostics start-ups in its portfolio, the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse aims to establish life-sciences companies in Western Pennsylvania by leveraging the area's top schools and best-in-class medical facilities. See what the Greenhouse's Harold Safferstein said about it here.

In a deep-dive sit-down interview with Medtech Insight, ALung Technologies CEO Pete DeComo dishes on US FDA's Breakthrough Devices Program and explains why his firm's novel artificial lung device, Hemolung, is worthy of traveling the expedited pathway to agency approval. DeComo also details two pivotal Hemolung clinical trials in the US and UK, and explains why Hemolung isn't marketing the device for commercial use despite being approved in 36 countries outside the US. He also talks about a future portable version of Hemolung, but noted that's not where ALung is focused right now. "Our first task is that first-generation technology – to get it to market, make it the standard-of-care, and then, if you are successful with all of that, you can do all of those wonderful other things as it relates to portability and wearability," DeComo says.

ALung CEO Pete DeComo says the start-up's novel Hemolung device might never have seen the light of day if it weren't for the support of the company's local community and, in particular, investment firm Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse. And ALung isn't the only Pittsburgh medtech firm the Greenhouse is aiding – there are currently 25 device and diagnostics start-ups in its portfolio.