ATS Medical of Minneapolis is under investigation after reports that the company breached fiduciary duty to its shareholders by agreeing to sell the company to Medtronic in a cash deal valued at almost $370 million.

The Federal Patent Court in Munich has ruled in Edwards Lifesciences favor, finding Cook's German transcatheter heart valve patent invalid.

Nearly 45 percent of the population suffers from hypertension, hypercholesterolemia or diabetes and a majority go undiagnosed. Additionally, incidence rates of these chronic conditions differ among racial and ethnic groups, according to data published by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

Medtronic has signed a definitive agreement to acquire ATS Medical for the approximate price of $370 million, which includes the purchase of ATS' stock and assumption of net debt.

The FDA has expanded an external defibrillator Class 1 recall, suggesting that about 280,000 devices could malfunction due to faulty components of 14 models made by Cardiac Science when used on patients experiencing sudden cardiac arrest.

After Phenomix released reportedly optimistic results from its phase 3 clinical trial studying the effectiveness of dutogliptin to treat type 2 diabetes on April 20, Forest Laboratories said that it is bailing out on the almost $340 million deal, in which the companies entered Oct. 23, 2009, to co-develop and commercialize dutogliptin, Phenomixs home-grown dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor.

Edwards Lifesciences has begun enrolling patients into the PREVAIL Japan clinical trial to study the safety and efficacy of transcatheter aortic heart valves, specifically its Sapien XT.

The FDA has issued a class I recall for Physio-Control's Lifepak 15 monitors/defibrillators after the company found that the devices have the potential to malfunction and power on and off unexpectedly.