The French and German governments have just announced a major project to develop a digital platform for the early detection of new respiratory pathogen epidemics, and then monitor their spread and inform decisions on appropriate counter measures. The COVID-19 crisis has confirmed the need for a resilient multi-stakeholder surveillance and control system to manage current and future epidemics or pandemics.
Rennes University Hospital in France has just this April completed a surgical procedure in the operating room wirelessly, thanks to the 5G network. Cardiologist Erwan Donal performed a heart operation there on a simulation manikin, monitored remotely from Athens, Greece, by heart surgeon Alexandros Stefanidis, from the department of cardiology at the General Hospital of Nikea.
Getinge AB is acquiring 100% of the equity in fluorescence imaging company Fluoptics SAS, a company using the technology as an aid to surgery. Getinge will, through its subsidiary Getinge Infection Control SAS, acquire all outstanding shares in Fluoptics and will pay around $27 million in cash on closing the deal.
Germitec SA has raised €11 million (US$11.6 million) to finance commercial scale-up, as it prepares to submit for FDA 510k approval of its ultrasound probe disinfection system.
Investors showed some love to French remote patient monitoring and cardiac data startup Implicity SAS, contributing $23 million to the company’s series A financing round. New investors Crédit Mutuel Innovation and Bpifrance led the round with support from BNP Paribas Development and returning seed investors Serena, Xange and Karista.
A research team led by neuroscientists and neurosurgeons from Paris-Saclay University have recently managed to demonstrate that electrical stimulation of the thalamus can restore consciousness when this has been impaired.
Carmat SA just completed a funding exercise, raising nearly $44 million to resume production and implantation of its Aeson total artificial heart, designed for patients suffering from end-stage bi-ventricular heart failure. The capital raise was achieved by issuing 4.05 million new shares on the Paris Euronext exchange, at a fixed price of $10.81 a share.
Cairdac SAS closed its first funding round, raising nearly $18.5 million to increase development of an autonomous, leadless pacemaker transcatheter system (ALPS) powered entirely using kinetic energy from the heart. Five French private equity funds and banks participated in this series A round.
The German Medical Technology Association, BVMed, and the French medical technology industries association, SNITEM, have issued a joint warning highlighting the risk of collapse in patient care throughout the EU.
Software Machines and Adaptive Implants in Orthopedics (SMAIO) SA raised $10 million on the Paris Euronext Growth market. The offer price was set at $6.66 a share. “Thanks to this IPO, we will now be able to ramp commercial development of our I-Kontrol arthrodesis platform in Europe and secure a foothold in the United States,” Philippe Roussouly, CEO of SMAIO SA, told BioWorld.