Avacta Group plc has continued its growth through M&A strategy with the acquisition of Coris Bioconcept Sprl, a developer of rapid diagnostic test kits, for an up-front cash consideration of £7.4 million (US$9.3 million). The Coris deal comes on the back of its £24 million purchase of Launch Diagnostics Holdings Ltd last year, as Avacta works on building up its diagnostics division.
Freenome Inc. has acquired U.K.-based immunodiagnostics developer Oncimmune Ltd. for £13 million (US$16 million), in a move that bolsters Freenome’s frontline early cancer detection efforts. While Freenome has been largely focused on getting the U.S. FDA’s nod for its colorectal cancer test, Oncimmune already has a CE-IVD marked EarlyCDT Lung blood test, an autoantibody platform and an R&D pipeline of over seven cancer detection signals.
A financial freefall left prescription digital therapeutic pioneer Pear Therapeutics Inc. cut into four pieces following a bankruptcy judge’s approval of the sale of its assets for a total of $6.05 million. Sleep-focused Nox Health Group took the biggest bite, acquiring the FDA-cleared Somryst PDT for $3.9 million. Other buyers included Harvest Bio LLC, Click Therapeutics Inc. and Welt Corp. Ltd. The total generated from the assets was woefully short of the company’s $32 million in debt.
Boston Scientific Corp., has announced that it has abandoned its plans to acquire M.I. Tech Co. Ltd., of South Korea after opposition was announced by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC lauded the news with a May 24 statement that cited the agency’s cooperation with other national regulatory authorities as a factor in scotching the proposed acquisition, the second time in recent weeks that government agencies have grounded mergers and acquisitions in the med-tech space.
Medtronic plc agreed to acquire Eoflow Co. Ltd., the manufacturer of Eopatch, a tubeless, wearable and fully disposable insulin delivery service, for $738 million. The deal, which is expected to provide a significant boost to Medtronic’s beleaguered diabetes unit, is slated to close in the second half of 2023. The deal announcement coincided with Medtronic’s release of its fourth quarter results for fiscal 2023.
Grand Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. plans to acquire an 87.5% stake in Blackswan Vascular Inc., a company that develops liquid embolism for peripheral vascular applications, as it continues to expand its footprint in tumor intervention.
Barely a month and a half after its radioconjugate approach landed a potential $1.7 billion deal with Novartis AG, Bicycle Therapeutics plc drew another big radiopharma player to the table, signing a collaboration agreement with Bayer AG to use Bicycle’s peptide technology to discover and develop radiotherapies against cancer targets. Terms are similar to the Novartis deal, with Bayer paying $45 million up front and Bicycle eligible for development and commercial milestones totaling up to $1.7 billion, and underline the growing interest in the radiopharma space.
Baxter International Inc. agreed to divest its Biopharma Solutions (BPS) business to private equity firms Advent International and Warburg Pincus for $4.25 billion. Baxter expects to net approximately $3.4 billion from the transaction, which it will use to pay down debt. The deal is anticipated to close in the second half of 2023.
Companies such asMedtronic plc have become risk averse and are unlikely to takeover early stage medtech firms, Ori Hadomi, vice president strategic initiatives & partnerships, at Medtronic, told delegates at the LSX World Congress in London. Hadomi, who joined Dublin-based Medtronic after his firm Mazor Robotics Inc. was taken over by the company in a $1.64 billion deal in 2018, told early-stage startups “don’t waste their time” in approaching the company.
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