The 2018 Leipzig Interventional Course (LINC), Jan. 30-Feb. 2, featured presentations of data from trials of peripheral stents from Biotronik and Veryan, TVA Medical's arteriovenous fistula, and drug-coated balloons from Medtronic, Boston Scientific, and Spectranetics.

Pipeline Watch is a weekly snapshot of selected late-stage clinical trial events announced by pharmaceutical and biotech companies at medical and industry conferences, in financial and company presentations, and in company releases and statements.

The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) meets monthly to review applications for centralized EU marketing authorization. Here’s a summary of their March 2017 recommendations.

Serial medtech entrepreneurs Chas Taylor and Paul Gilson founded Novate Medical Ltd. to develop a bioconvertible inferior vena cava filter – it protects patients from pulmonary embolisms during a critical interval, then integrates into the vessel wall. There is no need to retrieve it, a benefit that goes far beyond the economics of avoiding a second procedure.