Medtech in a Minute: Google Wants to Analyze Your Skin Problems, and More

Google Wants to Analyze Your Skin Problems

Google has developed an artificial intelligence-powered tool that can help people understand what’s going on with issues related to the skin. The company debuted the web-based application earlier this week during I/O, an annual developer conference. In a blog post, Google noted that the tool isn’t available yet, and has not been evaluated by FDA. Once the tool is launched, a person would use their phone’s camera to take three images of the skin, hair, or nail concern from different angles. The person will then be asked questions about skin type, how long they’ve had the issue, and other symptoms that help the tool narrow down the possibilities. The AI model analyzes this information and draws from its knowledge of 288 conditions to give a list of possible matching conditions that can then be researched further. Google said the model accounts for factors like age, sex, race, and skin types. 

Abbott Scores CE Mark for Navitor TAVR System

Abbott Laboratories now has CE mark for its Navitor transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) system for patients with severe aortic stenosis who are at high or extreme surgical risk. The device is implanted with Abbott's FlexNav delivery system, which received CE mark last year, and offers a slim design with a low TAVR delivery system profile, allowing treatment of people with vessels as small as 5 mm. 

More COVID-Fueled M&A

Companies with COVID-19-based diagnostics are proving to be extremely active on the M&A front this year. PerkinElmer is the latest firm to exercise its deal-making power, reaching an agreement to acquire Immunodiagnostic Systems for about $155 million. Perkin Elmer said the acquisition will help it grow its overall diagnostics business and its immunodiagnostics segment.

And in case you missed our last Medtech in a Minute report...

Medtronic Takes Best-in-Show Award, and Reader's Choice

Medtronic had two standout entries in the Medical Design Excellence Awards program this year, which were revealed Thursday during the Medtech Design Summit. Medtronic’s CareLink SmartSync Device Manager won the coveted MD+DI Readers’ Choice award, and the Linq II Insertable Cardiac Monitoring System won the Best-in-Show Award. This year's competition awarded bronze, silver, and gold awards in 11 medtech product categories.

A Big Step up for Diabetes Management

 FDA cleared the Bigfoot Unity Diabetes Management System, which features connected smart pen caps that recommend insulin doses for people using multiple daily injection (MDI) therapy. The Bigfoot Unity smart pen caps are designed to provide on-demand, insulin dose decision support to minimize guesswork and enable patients to follow their doctor’s instructions in a convenient, simple way.