The omnibus spending bill recently signed by President Joe Biden directs the FDA to expand unannounced foreign facility inspections and evaluate them through a new pilot program. The legislation includes $10 million for the program and a mandate to increase unannounced surveillance inspections of foreign drug establishments, Regulatory Focus reports. The legislation also directs the…

Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) today started air delivery of pharmaceutical products and medical supplies via Zipline drone in North Carolina. San Francisco-based Zipline won FAA Part 135 air carrier certification for the long-range flights earlier this month. The company flew its first commercial deliveries on June 22 with an initial 16-nautical-mile flight. The flights starting today…

Ariste Medical recently won FDA 510(k) clearance for its drug-embedded, polypropylene hernia mesh to fight microbial colonization. The Salt Lake City-based drug-device developer said the patents and proprietary formulations behind the technology could prevent infection, inflammation or clotting associated with implants. Ariste’s synthetic mesh carries two antibiotics — minocycline and rifampin —  to prevent contamination…

BICO Group subsidiaries Scienion and Cellenion today announced the launch of their SpheroOne single large-particle sorter and dispenser for drug testing using complex in-vitro 3D models. The SpheroOne platform can dispense individual spheroids, organoids and tumoroids, handling cellular aggregates ranging from 80 µm to 600 µm and complementing Cellenion’s CellenOne platform for sorting and dispensing…

Cardinal Health’s board of directors reduced bonus payouts for CEO Mike Kaufmann and his four top-paid executives due to the cost of opioid litigation. After pressure from investors, Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) for the first time has disclosed how its board of directors factored the opioid litigation settlement costs into the pay packages of Kaufmann, Chief…