New regulations covering medical devices are set to come into effect across Europe. Originally intended to be implemented in May 2020, the introduction of the updated Medical Device Regulation (MDR) was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The new regulations – the first major update in three decades – now come into force on May 26, and to mark the date a special conference discussed…
Cities harbour a dangerous cocktail of environmental stressors which politicians must tackle to save lives and preserve health. That’s the conclusion of a paper published in European Heart Journal, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). “By 2050, three in four people will live in cities, where up to 80% of energy is consumed and 70% of greenhouse gases are emitted,” said…
Fresenius Medical Care announced an international campaign that recognizes and supports the organization’s nurses and clinical teams throughout Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Women and men are different – nobody would argue with this statement. However, in medicine, gender plays a subordinate role. Neither research, prevention nor therapy adequately reflect this difference. “This is no longer acceptable,” says internist and cardiologist Prof. Dr. Vera Regitz-Zagrosek.
Should outdoor face covering be normalised to reduce transmission of SARS-CoV-2—or should anti-Covid efforts rather focus on indoor protection? Experts argue the case for both sides in this controversial debate.
Diagnostic data from the massive amounts of testing being conducted can help make health systems more resilient in dealing with future health crises and pandemics. The importance of diagnostic data was explored during the Medtech Europe online session, “Unlocking the Value of Diagnostic Information – how to make European Health Systems more resilient?” where delegates heard that…
Advice on the application of the Medicrime Convention in the context of counterfeit COVID-19 vaccines.
Vigorous and rapid air exchanges might not always be a good thing when it comes to addressing levels of coronavirus particles in a multiroom building, according to a new modeling study. The study suggests that, in a multiroom building, rapid air exchanges can spread the virus rapidly from the source room into other rooms at high concentrations. Particle levels spike in adjacent rooms within 30…
The pandemic could challenge what little achievement has been made so far in the field, a prominent Spanish medical oncologist explained during the virtual European Lung Cancer Conference
Any future attempts to reduce the spread of Covid-19 should be focused on tackling close airborne transmission of the virus which is considered to be the primary route for its circulation, according to experts. Respiratory experts argue that it is now clear that SARS-CoV-2 is most likely to transmit between people at close range through inhalation rather than through contact with surfaces or…
Moderna and IBM announced their intentions to explore technologies, including artificial intelligence, blockchain and hybrid cloud, that could help support smarter Covid-19 vaccine management. Central to the effort will be a pilot of open, standardized, technology-enabled vaccine distribution approaches aimed to improve supply chain visibility and foster near real-time tracking of vaccine…
Brainlab, a digital medical technology company, announced today the acquisition of Mint Medical GmbH, a Heidelberg-based company that develops image reading and reporting software for clinical routine and research. The acquisition underscores the Brainlab commitment to digital health and aims to improve the structured diagnosis, analysis and treatment of cancer and other diseases to address the…
Medtech company BellaSeno and the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT have received a grant totaling EUR 1.4 million for the development of commercial-scale, fully automated additive manufacturing of resorbable medical implants. The grant was issued by Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under the funding program KMU-innovativ. BellaSeno and Fraunhofer IPT…
The European Commission has launched a contingency plan to meet the challenge of the various mutations of the coronavirus. Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital are contributing to a new network for the evaluation and testing of new vaccines. The network is called "Vaccelerate" and it will contribute both to the evaluation of ongoing and future vaccinations, as well…
The European Commission has proposed a European Partnership for Health Innovation under Horizon Europe - an endeavour that is supported by health industry stakeholders representing pharmaceutical and medical technology companies. In a joint statement, COCIR, EFPIA, EuropaBio, MedTech Europe and Vaccines Europe voice their approval: The Covid-19 pandemic has shown the importance of an environment…
Covid-19 vaccine passports could be created, but significant challenges need to be overcome first, according to a report from a panel led by Oxford Professors Melinda Mills and Chris Dye, which outlines a dozen issues which must be addressed before passports can be introduced. The report is published by the SET-C (Science in Emergencies Tasking: Covid-19) group at the Royal Society and it…
The European Commission (EC) has concluded its review of the planned merger between Siemens Healthineers AG and Varian Medical Systems, Inc. and approved the transaction subject to certain conditions. In accordance with its commitments, the company will continue to keep its imaging and oncology software solutions interoperable with third-party offerings in the future. This concerns the connection…
Scientific and public health experts have been raising the alarm for decades, imploring public officials to prepare for the inevitability of a viral pandemic. Infectious epidemics seemingly as benign as "the flu" and as deadly as the Ebola virus provided ample warning, yet government officials seemed caught off guard and ill prepared for dealing with Covid-19.
Medics.Academy – a UK company delivering global access to medical education – and the Ethiopian Medical Women’s Association (EMeWA) have signed a partnership agreement to help women physicians in Ethiopia. The project will help EMeWA – an organisation established by female physicians in Ethiopia – to fulfil its vision to establish an excellence center for women physicians through one of…
Coronavirus-associated concerns dominate the Top 10 list of important technology hazard risks for hospitals, in an annual report published by ECRI, a nonprofit technology Pennsylvania research firm. The list is derived from ECRI’s team of technology experts who monitor hospital and healthcare organizations, and published to inform healthcare facilities about important safety issues involving…
Olympus Corporation announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Quest Photonic Devices B.V. for up to EUR50 million including milestone payments to strengthen its surgical endoscopy capabilities. Quest offers advanced fluorescence imaging systems (FIS) for the medical field, enabling more surgical endoscopy capabilities, compared to conventional imaging technologies.
Hologic, Inc. has completed the acquisition of Somatex Medical Technologies GmbH, a leader in biopsy site markers and localization technologies, for approximately $64 million. The company was previously owned by E-Med Solutions GmbH, Berlin, a group of investors led by German private equity company Westlake Partners.
Hologic, Inc. has announced that it will acquire Biotheranostics, Inc., a privately held, commercial-stage company that provides molecular diagnostic tests for breast and metastatic cancers, for approximately $230 million, subject to working capital and other customary closing adjustments.
The Covid-19 pandemic came as a shock but not a surprise. Bodies around the world have been warning for years of a novel disease that could wipe out millions and crash the global economy. In February 2019, Dr Jonathan Quick, chair of the Global Health Council, told Raconteur: “Our greatest fear is being blindsided by a new virus, most likely due to animal-human spill over, which then readily…
Nearly a quarter of the world’s population may not have access to a covid-19 vaccine until at least 2022, warns a study published by The BMJ. A second study estimates that 3.7 billion adults worldwide are willing to have a covid-19 vaccine, highlighting the importance of designing fair and equitable strategies to ensure that supply can meet demand, especially in low and middle income countries.
