Wearable Polygraph Tracks Deep-Body Stress Signals
Northwestern University engineers have created a sub‑8‑gram, wireless polygraph that adheres to the chest like a bandage and continuously records heart activity, respiration, sweat, blood flow and temperature. The system streams real‑time data to a smartphone, delivering an objective stress readout for patients who cannot verbalize discomfort, such as infants and the elderly. Validation tests showed accuracy comparable to commercial lie‑detector polygraphs and the ability to detect sleep‑apnea events in pediatric sleep studies. Researchers plan to broaden clinical trials and add brain‑activity sensors for at‑home monitoring.
Heartflow Reports Significant Revenue Growth as CCTA Sees Wider Adoption
Heartflow announced a 41% year‑over‑year jump in first‑quarter 2026 total revenue to $52.6 million, with U.S. sales climbing 42% to $48.3 million. The surge is driven by expanding use of its AI‑powered FFR‑CT platform and the newly launched Plaque Analysis software. Inclusion...
MemorialCare Names Hospital CEO, Chief Medical Officer
MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center appointed Gary Purushotham as CEO and Dr. Sapna Mehta, DO, as CMO, establishing a dyad leadership model. Purushotham previously led Detroit Medical Center Sinai‑Grace Hospital for nearly four years. Mehta, a Long Beach hospitalist for...
CRNA Pay by State, Adjusted for Cost of Living
The Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) command some of the highest wages in health care, with Alaska leading nominal hourly pay at $149.57. When adjusted for each state’s 2025 cost‑of‑living index, West Virginia rises...
Biopharma M&A Maintains Strength Even as Large Deals Wane
Biopharma merger‑and‑acquisition activity remains robust, driven by companies scrambling to replace revenue lost to looming patent expiries. Deal volume rose about 15% year‑over‑year, pushing total transaction value to roughly $45 billion in the last twelve months. However, the market has seen...
Dear Health Care Provider Letters: Improving Communication of Important Safety Information
The FDA issued final Level 2 guidance (Docket FDA‑2010‑D‑0319) on Dear Health Care Provider (DHCP) letters, detailing when manufacturers should send them, the essential content, optimal organization, and formatting techniques. The guidance covers both drug and biologic products and applies to...
STAT+: Takeda Will Pay $13.6 Million to Settle Allegations It Paid Kickbacks to Doctors
Takeda Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay $13.6 million to settle U.S. Department of Justice allegations that it provided illegal kickbacks to physicians. The DOJ says the company offered speaking fees and high‑end restaurant meals from January 2014 through October 2020 to boost prescriptions...
Novel CAR T Cell Therapy Moves Into Clinical Studies
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and its joint venture CTMC received FDA clearance to proceed with an Investigational New Drug application for a novel CAR‑T cell therapy targeting CD94‑positive T/NK‑cell lymphomas. The therapy will enter a Phase 1...
Multi-Institutional Trial Explores New Lifeline for Advanced Prostate Patients
Researchers at MUSC and Emory reported Phase 2 results for opaganib, an oral drug targeting sphingolipid metabolism, added to standard androgen‑receptor therapies in metastatic castration‑resistant prostate cancer. In 66 patients, disease control at 16 weeks reached 15% with abiraterone and 9% with...
Despite 36 Years at Hospital, Surgeon Considered Contractor – Not Employee
A pioneering cardiac surgeon at Calgary’s Foothills Medical Centre, Teresa Prieur, spent 36 years wearing an Alberta Health Services (AHS) badge and using its resources, yet the Human Rights Tribunal of Alberta ruled she was a contractor, not an employee....
Amgen Expands Crackdown on What It Says Is Misuse of 340B Program
Amgen announced it will broaden its data‑submission requirements for pharmacies that dispense its products under the federal 340B drug discount program. The new policy mandates that participating pharmacies provide detailed claims data for every prescription, aiming to curb what Amgen...
Some Medicare Patients Can Now Get Free CBD
The Trump administration has launched a test program that will provide free cannabidiol (CBD) to thousands of Medicare patients. The initiative aims to collect real‑world evidence on whether CBD improves quality of life and reduces overall healthcare spending for seniors....
How AI Innovation Is Widening The Digital Health Divide
OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT Health, a generative AI tool that aggregates personal health data across portals. Early adopters like tech‑entrepreneur Sergei Polevikov reported hallucinated records and administrative friction, highlighting usability gaps. Interviews in Mobile, Alabama reveal that many low‑income users already rely...
Implantable Bacteria Can Now Be Safely Contained, Clearing a Major Hurdle for Fighting Infection and Cancer
Harvard researchers have engineered a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel scaffold that securely contains therapeutic bacteria for up to six months, preventing escape while allowing drug‑release functions. The scaffold’s stiffness and toughness give it a ten‑fold higher fatigue threshold than prior...
Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty Outperforms Oral Semaglutide in Short-Term Weight Loss
A comparative real‑world study of 150 obese adults presented at ESGE Days 2026 found that endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) produced significantly greater short‑term weight loss than 14 mg oral semaglutide. At six months, ESG patients lost an average 12.7 % of body weight...
Trump Administration Exempts Doctors From Work Visa Freeze
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has lifted the freeze on processing existing H‑1B visas for foreign‑born physicians, allowing them to begin or continue work in American hospitals. The exemption comes after pressure from medical societies such as the ACC...
Trials Support Thrombectomy in Very Late Time Windows, Milder Strokes
Two randomized trials presented at the European Stroke Organisation Conference 2026 broaden the therapeutic horizon for acute ischemic stroke. LATE‑MT demonstrated that mechanical thrombectomy up to 72 hours after symptom onset improves functional outcomes, though it carries higher rates of death...
Thousands of Reprocessed EP Catheters Recalled
Stryker Sustainability Solutions, the reprocessing arm of Stryker, announced a Class II recall of more than 8,000 reprocessed electrophysiology (EP) catheters after discovering incomplete seals caused by a process‑control lapse. The recall spans multiple device models from manufacturers such as BARD,...
ECO 2026: Indirect Comparison Favours Wegovy Pill over Foundayo
At the 33rd European Congress on Obesity, Novo Nordisk presented a post‑hoc indirect comparison of oral semaglutide (Wegovy pill) versus orforglipron (Foundayo). Using simulated treatment comparison and matching‑adjusted indirect methods, the analysis showed Wegovy achieved roughly 3 percentage‑points greater weight...
Patient, Doctor, Health System Affect Glaucoma Drop Compliance
A UK‑based study published in Optometry and Vision Science examined glaucoma drop adherence among 13 patients and 13 eye‑care practitioners. Patients reported missed doses due to routine disruptions, prescription delays, and difficulty instilling drops, while clinicians cited time pressures, staffing...
Sonomind Raises €20M for Ultrasound Neuromodulation Technology
Sonomind SAS announced a €20 million (approximately $23 million) Series A round to advance its ultrasound‑based neuromodulation platform for depression. The capital will fund clinical trials of a non‑invasive device that employs a custom acoustic lens to focus sound waves on deep brain...
Health Authorities Order Halt to Use of Medical Devices Tied to Patient’s Death
Hong Kong health authorities have ordered an immediate stop to a batch of blood‑pressure monitoring sets after an improperly sealed catheter connector was linked to the death of a 75‑year‑old patient undergoing balloon angioplasty. The Department of Health instructed the...
Psilocybin Offers Fast-Acting Alternative to Traditional Antidepressants
A phase‑2, double‑blind trial in Sweden found that a single 25 mg dose of psilocybin produced rapid antidepressant effects, cutting MADRS scores by an average of 9.7 points within eight days versus 2.4 points for an active placebo. The benefit persisted...
Carl Zeiss Says Restructuring Could Affect up to 1,000 Jobs
Carl Zeiss Meditec announced a restructuring that could cut up to 1,000 jobs worldwide over the next three years. The move follows a 5.7% drop in first‑half revenue to €991 million (about $1.09 billion) and a fall in adjusted EBITDA to €60.5 million...
Candel Reports Prostate Cancer Drug's Long-Term Data Ahead of FDA Filing
Candel Therapeutics released long‑term follow‑up results for its investigational prostate cancer therapy, showing durable efficacy and a favorable safety profile. The data reveal a 78% five‑year disease‑free survival rate and a median PSA decline of over 90% in the majority...
IPF Linked to Higher Mortality, Costs in Hospitalized Patients With CDI
A retrospective analysis of 1.48 million Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) hospitalizations identified 1,600 patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). After propensity‑score matching, IPF patients experienced double the in‑hospital mortality (12.2% vs 6.2%) and stayed nearly four days longer. Hospital charges averaged...
Timing of PPV a Biomarker for Vision Gains in DME
A multicenter study presented at Retina World Congress found that small‑gauge pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) performed within 12 months of diabetic macular edema (DME) diagnosis yields significant visual acuity gains and anatomical improvement over 24 months. Timing emerged as a...
PFA Has Been a Game-Changer for Heart Patients—But There Are Still Risks
Pulsed field ablation (PFA) is reshaping atrial fibrillation treatment by using electrical fields instead of heat, delivering a markedly safer profile than radiofrequency or cryoablation. Clinicians report near‑zero phrenic nerve and esophageal injury, accelerating adoption of multiple FDA‑cleared catheters such...
9amHealth Raises $26M for Virtual Specialty Care Platform and More Funding News
9amHealth secured $26 million Series B funding led by Define Ventures, adding founder Lynne O'Keefe to its board. Optura raised $17.5 million in a Series A round, bringing total capital to $25 million, with Salesforce Ventures spearheading the effort to expand AI and large‑language‑model capabilities....
More Hospitals Receive 5 Stars in the Hospital Star Ratings Program
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that 385 hospitals earned a 5‑star rating in the 2026 Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings, up from 291 in 2025. The distribution shows most facilities clustered in the middle tiers, with...
SCOTUS Decides to Extend Telehealth Access to Abortion Care: FAQs on Preventive Care and Bodily Autonomy
On May 14, the Supreme Court extended an administrative stay that preserves mail‑order and telehealth prescriptions for the abortion pill mifepristone, pausing a Fifth Circuit ruling that sought to block such access in Louisiana. The decision keeps the FDA‑approved drug...
Contributor: Medication Adherence—A Lens Into How Well Health Care Is Working
Medication adherence is emerging as the most direct barometer of how well health‑care systems serve members. When patients consistently take prescribed drugs, chronic conditions stabilize, costly complications drop, and health‑plan star‑ratings improve. Conversely, gaps in adherence expose breakdowns in provider...
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New Guidelines for Identifying and Treating High-Risk IEC-HS Patients
CAR‑T therapy’s success is tempered by the rare immune‑effector cell‑associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis‑like syndrome (IEC‑HS). A new review in the Chinese Medical Journal details how IEC‑HS differs from severe cytokine release syndrome, noting a later onset around two weeks post‑infusion and...
Aardvark's Next Move After Clinical Hold; Alumis' Verdict on Acelyrin Asset
Aardvark Therapeutics announced that the FDA clinical hold on its rare‑disease HERO and OLE studies has been lifted, allowing the company to unblind the trial data. The unblinding will provide critical efficacy and safety readouts for the targeted condition. In...
Combining Data Can Identify High-Risk Cohorts for SDOH Initiatives
MedeAnalytics COO Saleem Tahir urges providers and payers to merge claims, clinical and social risk data to better target social determinants of health (SDOH) initiatives. By integrating these datasets, organizations can pinpoint high‑risk cohorts and allocate resources more precisely. The...
Healthcare AI Evaluation Frameworks: Moving Beyond Accuracy to Safety and Fairness
Healthcare AI is now embedded in 71% of US hospitals, yet many deployments fall short of promised gains. Most evaluations rely on accuracy metrics such as AUROC, ignoring safety, fairness, calibration, and workflow compatibility. Studies show over 95% of AI...
Sun Pharma Recalls Cancer Drug After Finding Glass Particles in some Vials
Sun Pharma is recalling 675 vials of its doxorubicin hydrochloride liposome chemotherapy drug in the United States after glass particles were found in the vials. The batch, manufactured at Sun's Halol, India facility, has not generated any adverse event reports,...
Private Voice AI in Healthcare: How to Capture Critical Conversations Without Letting Patient Data Leave the Building
Healthcare’s strict HIPAA rules prevent most providers from using cloud‑based AI notetakers, leaving only 21% of physicians with AI assistance. On‑premises voice AI deploys generative models inside hospital infrastructure, ensuring audio and transcripts never leave the building. This local processing...
Strengthening Medicare Advantage to Better Serve Today’s Seniors
Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment is expected to rise from 35 million today to about 45 million by 2030, covering roughly one‑tenth of the U.S. population. Hospital leaders have urged stronger federal oversight after many MA plans delay or deny care, especially through...
Philippine HMOs Post 41% Net Income Jump in Q1
Philippine health maintenance organizations (HMOs) posted a 41% jump in first‑quarter net income, reaching ₱818.7 million (about $14.7 million) versus ₱579.4 million a year earlier. Membership fees surged 19.7% to ₱26.83 billion ($483 million), outpacing claim payouts that grew 14% to ₱20.15 billion ($363 million). Total assets...
Former Ovid CEO Dr. Jeremy Levin’s Rallying Cry for Biotech
Former Ovid Therapeutics CEO Dr. Jeremy Levin is launching a new book, *Biotech in the Balance*, slated for May 19. The book outlines a roadmap for positioning biotech as a strategic U.S. industry, calling for tax incentives, stronger patient engagement, and...
Innovation in Community Oncology: Moving Faster, Close to Home
The 2026 Community Oncology Alliance conference highlighted how community practices are rapidly integrating advanced therapies such as CAR‑T and bispecific antibodies, supported by AI-driven workflow tools and new real‑world data standards. Speakers emphasized the need for expanded infusion capacity, symptom...
Malaysia OKs Korean AI for Sepsis Prediction and More AI Briefs
South Korean AI firm AITRICS secured Class C medical‑device approval in Malaysia for its VitalCare sepsis‑prediction software, marking its sixth regulatory clearance after Indonesia. In Thailand, Taiwan’s Acer Medical teamed with local partners to deploy an integrated AI‑assisted eye‑screening and...
Propanc Biopharma Provides Corporate Update and Reports Third Quarter 2025/26 Results
Propanc Biopharma announced a corporate update highlighting a service agreement with Germany’s FyoniBio to validate a pharmacokinetics assay for its lead asset PRP ahead of a Phase 1b first‑in‑human trial in solid‑tumor cancer patients. The company also secured a multi‑year anti‑aging...
New York State Announces Efforts to Bolster Maternal Mental Wellbeing
New York State’s Office of Mental Health announced over $18.4 million to expand the HealthySteps program, adding 38 new sites and boosting capacity by roughly 25%. In 2025 HealthySteps screened more than 108,000 new mothers for perinatal depression, part of a...
Protara Therapeutics Reports P-II (ADVANCED-2) Trial on TARA-002 in BCG-Naïve Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (NMIBC)
Protara Therapeutics presented 12‑month data from Cohort A of its Phase II ADVANCED‑2 trial evaluating TARA‑002 in patients with carcinoma in situ or CIS‑plus‑Ta/T1 non‑muscle‑invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) who are BCG‑naïve. Of the 31 enrolled, 29 were efficacy‑evaluable, yielding an overall...
At Axios Future Of Health, The Real Story Was Infrastructure Debt
At the Axios Future of Health Summit, speakers exposed a deep‑seated infrastructure debt in U.S. healthcare. CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz announced an expanded “Axe the Fax” effort with leading health systems and EHR vendors to curb the reliance on fax...
CAR-T Therapy for Stiff Person Syndrome Nears Approval
Kyverna Therapeutics is close to securing regulatory approval for its CAR‑T cell therapy aimed at treating stiff person syndrome (SPS), a rare autoimmune neurological disorder with no approved drugs. The therapy uses engineered T cells to eliminate the B‑cell populations...
More GLP-1 Options Are Coming for Federal Retirees, but They Come with a Catch
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is launching the Medicare GLP‑1 Bridge program on July 1, extending coverage of select weight‑loss GLP‑1 drugs to eligible Part D beneficiaries regardless of medical condition. Federal retirees with FEHB‑linked Part D plans can now request...
AI Is Fabricating Citations in Biomedical Studies, Researchers Find
An audit of millions of biomedical papers uncovered more than 4,000 citations to non‑existent research, spanning nearly 3,000 articles. The incidence of fabricated references has surged twelvefold over the past three years, and none of the identified errors have been...