PARIS – Medical gases specialists Air Liquide SA, of Paris, along with Peugeot SA, Schneider Electric SE and Valeo SA have joined together in a consortium to manufacture ventilators in a time when there is a critical shortage.
PARIS – With more than 10,000 people now infected, 3,626 hospitalized and 450 having died, France is in third place of European countries most affected by the coronavirus epidemic, after Italy (35,700 cases) and Spain (13,910 cases). The exponential spread of COVID-19 has led to a surge in demand for respiratory therapy equipment in intensive care units.
PARIS – The French government is seeking to curb the growth in spending on medical devices. According to recent work by the parliamentary information commission, led by deputies Julien Borowczyk and Pierre Dharréville, medical technology is the source of $5.8 billion in annual spending in the community and $2.1 billion in hospitals.
PARIS – Quantum Surgical SAS, of Montpellier, France, has been awarded development aid amounting to $2.25 million in grants and repayable loans from Bpifrance bank, as part of the French Deeptech program.
PARIS – Vygon SA, of Ecouen, France, has acquired Advanced Perfusion Diagnostics SA (APD), a startup based in Lyon, France, that has developed Ikorus, a device that detects changes in visceral microvascular blood flow in the most critically ill hospital patients. Vygon did not disclose the financial details behind the agreement.
PARIS – The Syndicat National de l'Industrie des Technologies Médicales (SNITEM), the French national association of medical technology manufacturers, has just released a study looking at the development of this industrial sector in that country. This snapshot, produced every two years by the firm D&Consultants SAS on behalf of Courbevoie, France-based SNITEM and the bank Bpifrance SA, is based on a dual quantitative and qualitative approach.
PARIS – Carmat SA, from Vélizy-Villacoublay, France, has obtained full FDA approval for its investigational device exemption application (IDE). The company is now able to initiate a U.S. early feasibility study (EFS) of its total artificial heart. “This full approval to initiate a U.S. study confirms the FDA’s confidence in our ability to conduct a feasibility study of the first bio-prosthetic artificial heart in the United States,” Stéphane Piat, CEO of Carmat, told BioWorld.
PARIS – Sensome SAS, of Palaiseau, France, has closed a second funding round, of $9 million, with its original French investors (Kurma Partners SA, Invest Partners SA, BNP Paribas Développement SA and the Paris-Saclay Seed Fund), now joined by the Japanese-based Asahi Intecc Co. Ltd.
PARIS – The European mammography division of GE Healthcare Inc., based in Buc, France, has just performed the first breast biopsy guided by angiomammography, using the Pristina Serena biopsy robot on a patient at the Gustave Roussy Institute in Villejuif, France.
PARIS – EY SAS has published the results of the first edition of a barometer dedicated to the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in French public hospitals. The health care sector, which is undergoing wholesale change in France, is suffering tight economic constraints and faces ever-increasing expectations from patients. “The development of [AI] in France is a priority. It's a matter of gauging it,” Loïc Chabanier, an EY partner responsible for health care, told BioWorld.