Bioresearchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are hoping that diagnostic platforms previously used to develop tests for outbreaks of other epidemic respiratory diseases, including SARS and MERS, can be built on to develop new diagnostics to detect more cases in the current coronavirus outbreak, US infectious disease authorities say. This comes as more patients are monitored around the US for the disease, and a Chicago woman returning from China tests positive.

The company’s leadership discussed its recent investments in robotic surgery technology during Johnson & Johnson’s 2019 fourth-quarter earnings call on 22 January. The company will provide more information on its robotic surgery platforms at its investors meeting in May in New York.

New research links the use of stents and balloons coated with the drug paclitaxel to an increased risk of lower-leg amputation shortly following surgery. The study was conducted by Greek researcher Konstantinos Katsanos, who previously found an increased mortality risk in paclitaxel-treated patients.

On this week’s podcast, senior reporter Elizabeth Orr highlights the most exciting medical device technology coming down the pike as part of the US FDA’s Breakthrough Devices Program.

The company’s leadership discussed its recent investments in robotic surgery technology during Johnson & Johnson’s 2019 fourth-quarter earnings call on 22 January. The company will provide more information on its robotic surgery platforms at its investors meeting in May in New York.

The US FDA approved fewer novel devices in 2019 than in 2018, despite a slight increase in original PMA approvals. De novo clearances were down significantly after four straight years of increases, while panel-track PMA supplements and 510(k) clearances also declined from the 2018 totals.

Bioresearchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are hoping that diagnostic platforms previously used to develop tests for outbreaks of other epidemic respiratory diseases, including SARS and MERS, can be built on to develop new diagnostics to detect more cases in the current coronavirus outbreak, US infectious disease authorities say. This comes as more patients are monitored around the US for the disease, and a Chicago woman returning from China tests positive.

On this week’s podcast, senior reporter Elizabeth Orr highlights the most exciting medical device technology coming down the pike as part of the US FDA’s Breakthrough Devices Program.

The FDA has readied plans for hastened emergency-use approvals of coronavirus test kits after an infected US citizen returned to Washington State from Wuhan province in China. See what the FDA’s Megan McSeveney said about it here.