A newly FDA-approved drug to treat congestive heart failure is cost-effective, while a device to treat the same disease is priced 60 percent higher than it should be, according to an Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) analysis. The researchers noted the two interventions could become the first breakthroughs in heart failure management in more than a decade.

Merge Healthcare Incorporated (NASDAQ:MRGE), a leading provider of clinical systems and innovations that seek to transform healthcare, entered into an agreement to provide its Merge Hemo(TM) solution to Baptist Health System of Birmingham, Alabama.

An Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) analysis found that the price that best represents the benefits of newly FDA-approved proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors should be approximately two-thirds lower than the wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) of the medications.

Even as pharmaceutical companies develop safer and more effective drugs, the costs of those medications are becoming a concern for healthcare executives, hospitals, payers and patients.

For the first quarter of fiscal year 2016, Medtronic’s revenue increased 12 percent compared with the same time period last year thanks to an extra week in the quarter and its acquisition of Covidien, according to earnings results announced by the company.

Abbott Laboratories denied a Financial Times report that it was prepared to bid $25 billion to acquire St. Jude Medical. St. Jude, which is based in Minnesota, declined to comment when contacted by the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Greatbatch announced on Aug. 27 that it agreed to acquire Lake Region Medical for approximately $1.73 billion. The deal, which has been unanimously approved by both companies’ boards of directors, is expected to close by the fourth quarter of 2015 pending regulatory reviews and other closing conditions.

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE: EW), the global leader in the science of heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring, today announced that it has closed its acquisition of CardiAQ Valve Technologies, Inc., a privately held company and developer of a transcatheter mitral valve replacement system.