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OEvery year, more than one million patients worldwide receive a new pacemaker. The vast majority of those pacemakers require surgery to be implanted and use electrical wires that connect to the heart, known as “leads.” The next generation of the technology, known as “leadless” pacemakers, requires no surgery and is injected into a vein using a catheter, but until now has only worked in a single chamber of the heart. Today the FDA approved Abbott’s wireless pacemaker, the Aveir DR, for both chambers of the heart.
This was a major technical feat. Abbott’s proprietary system works by sending out high-frequency electrical pulses that take advantage of the electrical conductivity of blood to deliver the signal. In a clinical study, more than 97% of patients had both chambers of their heart beating normally after three months. Read more from Forbes editor-in-chief Alex Knapp here.
The MedTech billionaire is fighting a patent war with Apple
Masimo Founder and CEO Joe Kiani, photographed at Masimo’s Irvine, CA headquarters.
Ethan Pines/The Forbes Collection
Joe Kiani, the founder and CEO of Masimo, has spent $60 million to take the nearly $3 trillion company to court over the Apple Watch, but he’s also facing a boardroom battle over his own push for consumer technology . These legal battles come as Kiani, who Forbes estimates is worth $1.2 billion, is starting to enter the consumer space with watches and other wearables. The next step in the multi-front legal battle is a decision from the International Trade Commission on whether or not to ban certain Apple Watch imports, which is expected to take place on July 17.
Read more here.
Pipeline and deal updates
Wound care: Cresilon, a Brooklyn, New York-based biotech startup that has developed a plant-based gel to stop bleeding, has received approval from the FDA for human use in minor cuts and lacerations. The product was previously approved for veterinary use. Cresilon CEO Joe Landolina was on the 2023 Forbes Under 30 Healthcare list.
Preventive care: Neko Health, a Stockholm, Sweden-based startup co-founded by Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, increased a $65 million Series A round to expand its medical scanning technology across Europe. The company says the 10-minute scans, which cost $270 and are currently only offered in Stockholm, could help doctors detect skin cancer and cardiovascular disease earlier, among other health problems.
Brain Disorders: Cartera, a Paris-based startup that grew out of Sorbonne University, increased a $40 million Series B round as it launches a Phase 3 clinical trial of its ultrasound-based device that opens the blood-brain barrier to deliver chemotherapy to patients with brain cancer glioblastoma.
This psychologist got rich by selling her chain of autism treatment centers. Now she’s trying to buy it back
Doreen Granpeesheh, founder of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.
Amanda Edwards/Getty Images
Doreen Granpeesheh built the Center for Autism and Related Disorders into a national chain and sold it to private equity firm Blackstone in a $600 million deal. Now, in an unexpected twist, she’s trying to buy the bankrupt company for a much smaller sum.
Read more here.
Other healthcare news
Ritual aid reported a quarterly loss of more than $306 million and the drugstore chain is closing 25 stores.
The North Carolina The legislature passed a bill restricting access to gender-affirming care for minors.
Britain’s agency that reviews what drugs are offered through the country’s public health system says “more evidence” is needed for Eli Lilly’s diabetes and weight-loss drug Mounjaro.
from Australia medical regulator has approved psilocybin and MDMA for therapeutic use as of July 1.
Reuters reported that aspartame, one of the most commonly used artificial sweeteners, will be classified as a possible carcinogen by the World Health Organization in July. Here’s an overview of where the research stands.
Straight through Forbes
Why the national legalization of cannabis is still a decade away
Inflection AI, the year-old startup behind Chatbot Pi, raises $1.3 billion
Troubled Robot Truckmaker TuSimple says US company may sell
What else we read
Financiers bought up anesthesia practices, then raised prices (The Washington Post)
Hepatitis C is curable. So why aren’t more people getting treatment? (NPR)
Medical exiles: Families flee states amid crackdown on transgender care (KFF Health News)
Correction: This post has been updated to correct the name of Abbott’s new pacemaker, the Aveir DR.