Reframe Daily: FDA Approves Breakthrough Cancer Drug, New Heart Device Passes Major Safety Test

Reframe Daily—curated by Christin Chong (neuroscience PhD, Buddhist chaplain, healthtech strategy consultant)—delivers optimistic and credible healthtech updates you won’t find in most popular news outlets, from sources scientists and healthcare providers read and trust.

Today in one sentence: A dissolving heart patch proved just as strong as metal in fixing heart holes, and people with stubborn blood cancer now have a newly approved drug that can help when other treatments stop working.

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Good news: A new minimally invasive heart device that naturally dissolves in the body works just as well as traditional metal implants to close "holes" in the heart (atrial septal defects, ASD). After two years, almost all signs of the device were gone in patients, reducing long-term risks and giving people—especially kids—more options for safe treatment without leaving permanent metal.

Bioresorbable vs Metallic Occluders for Transcatheter Atrial Septal Defect Closure: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Market readiness: 🙂🙂🙂🙂 (4 — This device has completed a well-powered, multicenter randomized clinical trial with 2-year follow-up and demonstrated non-inferiority, but is not yet on the U.S. market and needs regulatory approval.)

Good news: The FDA just approved Blenrep (belantamab mafodotin-blmf) for adults with relapsed or hard-to-treat multiple myeloma—a type of blood cancer. In a large trial, this treatment showed patients went much longer before their cancer got worse compared to a standard treatment, giving them more hope and more time.

FDA approves belantamab mafodotin-blmf for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma

Market readiness: 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂 (5 — Newly approved by the FDA for U.S. patients as of today, so it's available now, but requires safety monitoring for eye side effects.)

Good news: A randomized clinical trial found that a new, removable medical device can safely and effectively close a hole between the heart’s upper chambers (ASD), then dissolve almost completely within 2 years. This means patients may no longer need a permanent metal implant in their heart.

Bioresorbable vs Metallic Occluders for Transcatheter Atrial Septal Defect Closure: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Market readiness: 🙂🙂🙂🙂 (4 — Device has proven its safety and effectiveness in a large, well-designed clinical trial, but is not yet for sale in the U.S.)

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