GE Healthcare announced Feb. 25 the sale of its biopharmaceutical business to Danaher, and GE Chairman and CEO Larry Culp Jr. said the deal signified that a planned 2019 initial public offering (IPO) for GE Healthcare is now unlikely. GE is reportedly weighing its options following the deal, which casts off the biopharmaceutical business for $21.4 billion.

Philips will unveil a new mixed reality concept developed together with Microsoft that the company says is designed for the operating room of the future. Based on Philips’ Azurion image-guided therapy platform and Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 holographic computing platform, the companies will showcase novel augmented reality applications for image-guided minimally invasive therapies. The technology will debut at Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona, Feb. 25-28 in Barcelona, Spain.

Navitian, the new coronary microcatheter from iVascular, recently received CE mark approval. The device was approved to facilitate, guide and support a guidewire while accessing the coronary system, the exchange of guidewires, and injection of radiopaque contrast media or saline solutions.

Medtronic is recalling its dual chamber implantable pulse generators (IPGs) due to the possibility of a software error that can result in a lack of pacing. Patients and physicians cannot predict whether and when this software error might occur. A lack of pacing could result in patients experiencing slow heart beating, low blood pressure, and symptoms such as light headedness, fainting and even death.

California-based Vascular Dynamics Inc. (VDI) is sponsoring a new clinical trial, called CALM-2 (Controlling And Lowering blood pressure with MobiusHD), of a novel endovascular approach to treat patients with drug-resistant hypertension. St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London is helping to lead efforts in the U.K. as a key study site.

A new reversible, drug-free antiplatelet therapy could reduce the risk of blood clots and potentially prevent cancer metastasis, according to a study published in Science Translational Medicine.

Foldax Inc. announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted investigative device exemption (IDE) approval for an Early Feasibility Study of the Tria surgical aortic heart valve to treat aortic valve disease.