More than 202 million people worldwide are living with peripheral artery disease (PAD), a number that has increased 23.5 percent between 2000 and 2010, according to research published online Aug. 1 in The Lancet. The writer of an accompanying editorial told Cardiovascular Business that agencies should unite in an effort to prevent PAD.

In 2012, the FDA put physicians on alert after determining that a compounding center shipped potentially contaminated injectable products linked to a fungal meningitis outbreak. In JAMA Neurology’s July 22 online section, a team from Tennessee described the diagnostic challenges they faced treating three patients who presented with ischemic stroke several weeks after receiving epidural injections.

Call it howling at the moon, but the timing of aortic dissection surgery within the lunar cycle may influence the odds of death and length of stay, according to a study published online July 9 in Interactive CardioVascular and Thoracic Surgery.

Abbott plans to buy IDEV Technologies for $310 million, a move that will expand Abbott’s portfolio of stents for treating peripheral artery disease.

Enhancing its product leadership team, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. has named David Sloop director, X-ray Vascular Business Unit. Sloop will be responsible for implementing strategic marketing plans to drive growth and profitability of Toshiba’s X-ray Vascular product line.

The FDA will review a Supplemental New Drug Application for the anticoagulant apixaban for the prevention of deep vein thrombosis in adults who undergo hip or knee replacement surgery.

The Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche pulled the plug on a phase III clinical trial and all other trials involving the diabetes drug aleglitazar “due to safety signals and lack of efficacy.”

The FDA has approved Rixubis, the first recombinant coagulation factor IX, for use in people 16 years of age and older with hemophilia B.