PARIS – Archos SA reported setting up a center of excellence in med-tech. They are working in close partnership with various SATTs – technology transfer acceleration offices, who finance innovative research lab projects in France. Their new division, Medical Devices Venture, is designed to help develop startups targeting the health care disciplines of the future that combine technology, machine learning and a platform for collaboration.
LONDON – Abingworth has cast off Brexit and pandemic woes to close its latest fund, Bioventures 8 at $465 million, exceeding the target of $375 million by a significant margin, and closing its hard cap.
Illumina Inc. and Sequoia Capital China are collaborating to launch a startup ecosystem in China. The Sequoia Capital China Intelligent Healthcare Genomics Incubator, Powered by Illumina, will support life sciences startup companies in the field of genomics. Illumina for Startups will offer sequencing systems and reagents, lab space in China, and expertise. Sequoia Capital China will provide investment and business guidance.
HONG KONG – Big pharma and venture capital firms are increasingly focused on early-stage companies and digital solutions, judging by the interest shown by participants at Phar-East 2020. Much of the talk during the third and final day of the virtual conference that started Dec. 8 was focused on the business side of the health care space, and the undertones were definitely bullish.
Preclinical startup Tavotek Biotherapeutics Ltd., with operations in Pennsylvania and Suzhou, China, boasts two technology platforms for discovering and developing molecular-targeted biologics for cancers and autoimmune diseases and is working to push its candidates, including a bispecific antibody, to the clinic next year.
Preclinical startup Tavotek Biotherapeutics Ltd., with operations in Pennsylvania and Suzhou, China, boasts two technology platforms for discovering and developing molecular-targeted biologics for cancers and autoimmune diseases and is working to push its candidates, including a bispecific antibody, to the clinic next year.
NEW DELHI – Indian health care technology startups have gained ‘significant momentum’ over the last five years, fueled by a government push towards digitization, the uptake of technological advances and a spurt in health care apps. “The Indian health tech startup landscape has now come of age and includes a robust pipeline of ventures across both ends of the spectrum,” Sathguru director Pushpa Vijayaraghavan told BioWorld.
LONDON – Illumina Inc. has named the first three U.K. genomics startups to be backed by its accelerator program, after expanding the scheme from the San Francisco Bay Area to its European headquarters in Cambridge, U.K.
TORONTO – The head of a of Kitchener, Ontario-based surgical robotics firm has overseen the launch of Canada’s first industry-led hub dedicated to helping med-tech startups commercialize and scale up their technologies and businesses. Intellijoint Surgical Inc. CEO Armen Bakirtzian founded the Medical Innovation Xchange (MIX) for advanced startup companies that understand their markets and have completed initial steps for the design and manufacture of their technology.
The U.S. FDA has granted breakthrough device designation for Righteye LLC’s eye movement-tracking vision system as a test for Parkinson’s disease. Developed by researchers at PADRECC and Virginia Commonwealth University with funding from the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and licensed to Righteye in 2016, the test requires patients to sit in front of an all-in-one tablet-looking device and follow a series of moving targets. The goal is to identify ocular tremors, a persistent issue with Parkinson’s patients that prevents steady fixation on objects and images. The noninvasive test, which measures an individual’s ability to follow objects on a screen, could help doctors not only confirm the difficult-to-diagnose disease, but also detect it at earlier stages.
