OTC Devices

CHPA Health In Hand Foundation accepting nominations for 2025 US Self-Care Marketing Awards; Celsius hires former PepsiCo as president/COO and closes $1.8bn acquisition of energy drink competitor Alani; and AdvoCare adds John Peirano as integrated marketing VP after hiring Kathy Blosser supply chain VP.

Congress launched an inquiry into 23andMe amid privacy concerns following its bankruptcy, particularly regarding the potential sale of sensitive user data. Additionally, a Cybernews report gave 40 DNA testing firms an average cybersecurity grade of D, citing widespread vulnerabilities and data breaches, along with inadequate public information about their security practices.

The firms recently announced they will operate as combined company LXE Hearing marketing Eargo’s namesake line and hearX’s Lexie brands. Eargo majority owner Patient Square Capital added $100m to its investment.

The firms recently announced they will operate as combined company LXE Hearing marketing Eargo’s namesake line and hearX’s Lexie brands. Eargo majority owner Patient Square Capital added $100m to its investment.

The Visby Medical Women’s Sexual Health Test is the first over-the-counter test cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration to detect chlamydia, gonorrhea and trichomoniasis. It delivers results in about 30 minutes.

23andMe cut 40% of its workforce and will discontinue its therapeutic program as part of ongoing restructuring. This comes after a data breach, series of layoffs and the resignation of its board members.

FDA’s OTC office director details a 2023 guidance as opening doors for NRT innovation at recent public meeting, but researchers and an industry executive note the most recent approval in the US for an innovative NRT was more than 20 years ago and say FDA isn’t allowing sufficient flexibility for approvals of new products or indications other than cessation related to quitting smoking.

FDA tobacco programs chief emphasizes moving smokers to lower risk alternatives and NIDA executive encourages proposals for e-cigarettes as nicotine replacement treatments. FDA also seizes $76m in unauthorized e-cigarettes.

Qnovia notes NRT inhalation product recently received investigational new drug clearance from FDA as agency and NIH say innovation needed smoking cessation to help improve rate of success for quitting the habit that kills around 500,000 US consumers annually.

This week, J&J announced that it was buying heart failure device firm V-Wave; Procept got the FDA’s OK on a clinical trial of its Aquablation treatment for prostate cancer; and CMS began to consider Medicare reimbursement of Abbott’s TriClip tricuspid repair device.