CAPS Medical, of Netanya, Israel, closed a $3.5 million series A round led by Chasing Value Asset Management and the Los Angeles-based Israel Investment Fund Group. The new funds will be used to enable CAPS to undertake its first clinical trial for its minimally invasive, nonthermal plasma device for cancer treatment and further develop its portfolio for the treatment of solid tumors.
Virtual reality headsets offered a lot of hype around five years ago, but not much in results when it came to medical applications. Medical holograph company Realview Imaging Ltd. has raised a $10 million series C round to enable it to market its first product, Holoscope-i, which offers real-time, 3D holographic images based on any volumetric imaging data during minimally invasive procedures.
Exero Medical Ltd. aims to improve monitoring the gastrointestinal system after surgery with a wireless, biodegradable anastomotic leak sensor implant. It has started a tiny five-patient, first-in-human study as a proof of concept for its technology.
The U.S. FDA has given the green light to Xact Robotics Ltd. for its Xact Ace robotic system for computer tomography (CT)-guided percutaneous procedures. The company plans to roll out the system later this year with an initial focus on interventional radiologists.
HONG KONG – A researcher at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) has developed a test that identifies those carrying the COVID-19 virus in less than a minute. And it is both affordable and works with greater than 90% accuracy to boot.
HONG KONG – Contact tracing is seen as one of the more effective measures to contain the current COVID-19 pandemic. Now, an Israeli company may hold the solution with its app-free tech. Herzliya-based Wave Guard Technologies Inc. has an algorithm-based solution that allows government health care agencies to trace contacts of COVID-19-infected individuals accurately, effectively and in real time.
HONG KONG – Israeli companies have produced some promising med-tech solutions for COVID-19, and the artificial intelligence space is turning out to be a particularly strong area of expertise for that tiny but mighty nation. One of the four health maintenance organizations (HMO) in Israel, Maccabi Healthcare Services, has deployed a new AI-powered algorithm that identifies individuals estimated to be at the highest risk of severe COVID-19 complications due to pre-existing conditions and other health factors.
Vayyar Imaging Ltd., which focuses on 4D radar imaging, reported that the Israeli government is using its sensor technology to fight the spread of COVID-19. “Vayyar uses 3D imaging to map what is happening in any environment but incorporates a fourth dimension – detecting and analyzing changes over time – to provide the most comprehensive monitoring solution,” Ofer Familier, general manager of Vayyar, told BioWorld.
Pi-Cardia Ltd. has raised a $27 million round of financing led by Sofinnova Partners. The Rehovot, Israel-based company will use the round to back parallel U.S. feasibility and European pivotal trials of its catheter-based, nonimplant heart valve calcification treatment.
HONG KONG – Whether bats are the source of COVID-19 is a debatable point; however, using sound to navigate like them could prove key for diagnostics and disease monitoring. Bat-Call Ltd. is using its auscultation technology in the battle against the pandemic. It said its patented artificial intelligence (AI) infra-sound analysis and deep learning classification technologies can support the early detection and monitoring of COVID-19 patients.
