Minimally invasive transcatheter approaches to repair the aortic and pulmonic valves can be safe, cause less mortality and provide faster recovery times compared to previous methods. However, further clinical trials are still needed, according to a review published March 8 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Individuals who were identified as being at increased risk of cardiovascular or cerebrovascular events based on screening for low ankle brachial index did not significantly reduce their risk of these events with the use of aspirin, according to a randomized, controlled trial in the March 3 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.

Pharmaceutical companies will struggle to profit from the cardiovascular disease (CVD) market over the next decade despite growing drug usage, according to Datamonitor, which predicted that the CVD pharmaceutical market will grow from $99 billion in 2008 to $107 billion in 2018.

The board of directors at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has designated Lamberto Andreotti, 59, to serve as its CEO, effective May 4, when James M. Cornelius, 66, current chairman and CEO will retire. At the request of the board, Cornelius will remain as chairman.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has released a 30-page white paper refuting that the recent U.S. Senate report on its diabetes drug Avandia failed to present an accurate, balanced or complete view of the currently available information on Avandia (rosiglitazone).

With a more sophisticated understanding of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and improved technology, the field of resuscitative medicine is moving forward at a rapid clip. The missing piece to the puzzle, however, is getting more automated external defibrillators (AEDs) into more public spaces, coupled with education and training.

Washington, D.C.--Matthew G. Hillebrenner, MSE, chief of the FDAs circulatory support and prosthetics branch, division of cardiovascular devices at the Office of Device Evaluation, spoke to the complications yet exciting progress with identifying how to trial and treat the low-risk operable patient population with trancatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), on Feb. 22 at the Cardiovascular Research Technologies (CRT) conference.

Washington, D.C.--In late January, the FDA released a draft guidance on heart valve devicesthe first in 16 yearsassessing the premarket approval and investigational device exemption of the devices. Carolyn D. Vaughan, an FDA lead reviewer, explicated the context and content of the guidance at the Cardiovascular Research Technologies (CRT) conference on Feb. 22.