In its bid to fight antimicrobial resistance, the agency has finalized a 2016 guidance on how novel antibiotic developers can coordinate with antimicrobial susceptibility test-makers to ensure their products come to market at about the same time. The agency recommends using its pre-submission process for a more efficient review.

The agency sent a letter to health-care providers stating that it is investigating reports of an elevated risk of death for patients starting two years after treatment with paclitaxel-coated balloons or paclitaxel-eluting stents. But FDA is not taking any regulatory action at this point.

US FDA is taking a cautious approach to rolling out the test phase of its pre-certification program for digital health products to keep it within legal limits. See what Bradley Merrill Thompson, an attorney at Epstein Becker & Green, had to say about the limited scope of the current plan here.

No device-related warning letters were released by US FDA the week of Jan. 15.

There are significant changes in store for New Zealand’s medical device sector, including a new regulator and a set of pre- and post-market regulatory controls.

US FDA has about three months' worth of medical device carryover user-fee funds to burn if the partial federal government shutdown continues, although the agency is still finalizing its shutdown balance sheet, Commissioner Scott Gottlieb says.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has strengthened benefit-risk language in the latest redo of ISO 14971, the voluntary standard that instructs device-makers on how to best put together a risk management program. Regulators – including US FDA – are increasingly considering benefit-risk when weighing product availability and regulatory compliance issues. And Jos Van Vroonhoven, convener of a joint working group that revised the standard, says a more global regulatory emphasis on risk management and a desire to clarify the document in general led ISO to revise the standard. Also: Van Vroonhoven identifies four updated clauses in the revamped standard that firms should keep a sharp eye on.

When ISO TR 24971 – a Technical Report that offers device-makers guidance on international risk management standard ISO 14971 – was first published in 2013, not many people knew it existed. But now that the TR is being updated in tandem with ISO 14971, it's a must-have document that includes valuable instruction related to a host of risk-related issues. In particular, TR 24971:20XX includes informative new annexes that tackle device cybersecurity and how firms should handle risk management for products designed before ISO 14971 existed.

Here's a table cross-referencing the current 2007 version of international risk management standard ISO 14971 and its revised draft version, which will likely be published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) later this year.

Proteus Digital Health announced a new partnership with Minneapolis-based Fairview Health Services and the University of Minnesota Health to prescribe "digital capecitabine," encapsulating the common chemotherapy drug with Proteus' sensor, to colorectal cancer patients. The goal is to achieve medication adherence, leading to enhanced treatment and outcomes, through home-based monitoring. See what George Savage, Proteus' co-founder and chief medical officer, had to say about the new digital oncology program here.

Proteus Digital Health announced a new partnership with Fairview Health Services and the University of Minnesota Health to prescribe capecitabine, a common chemotherapy drug, encapsulated with a sensor to colorectal cancer patients. Under the program, patients are prescribed the "digital capecitabine" and will be monitored remotely to see when they take their meds and for other health data. The goal is to improve patients' treatment adherence and improve outcomes.

Abbott has exercised an option to buy Cephea Valve Technologies, developer of a minimally-invasive replacement heart valve, for an undisclosed sum.

Prenatal testing firm Natera appoints a new chief operating officer and interventional cardiovascular device firm Shockwave Medical seats a new board chairman, among recent medtech and biotech personnel moves.

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, from Jan. 7-13, 2019.

The new CEO of Smith & Nephew, Namal Nawana, sat down with Medtech Insight during the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference to discuss his plans for putting the British medical giant on track for growth. See what he had to say here about the company's M&A strategy.

The list of medical device approvals outside the US captured by Medtech Insight's Approvals Tracker in 2018 was shorter than in 2017, but it includes approvals from 14 different territories – more than one-fifth of the approvals came from emerging markets – covering more than 50 different indication categories.

This week's edition of Medtech Insight's Results Recap, the weekly roundup of major device trial-results from Meddevicetracker.com, includes just one entry as the 2019 is off to a slow start for trial results announcements. Pulse Biosciences announced encouraging results from the clinical efficacy study of its Nano-Pulse Stimulation technology to treat patients with sebaceous hyperplasia.

US FDA has granted a de novo clearance to Bruin Biometrics’ SEM Scanner, which is the first device cleared to assess parts of a patient’s body that may be at risk for pressure ulcers.

A snapshot of global medical device and diagnostics approvals recorded during the past week in Medtech Insight's Approvals Tracker. Terumo and Cook each nabbed US FDA approvals for endovascular devices.

Starts & Stops compiles all the clinical trial announcements, initiations, completions and suspensions tracked by Meddevicetracker. This edition covers trial announcements from Dec. 30 to Jan. 7, including announcements from Abbott, Roche, Insightec, and Terumo.

Starts & Stops compiles all the clinical trial announcements, initiations, completions and suspensions tracked by Meddevicetracker. This edition covers trial announcements from Dec. 24-30, so there is just one entry this week - Vectorious' announcement of the first-in-human trial of the V-LAP left-atrial monitor.