Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering licensed its Erapid electrochemical sensing platform to IQ Group Global to integrate with the Australian consortium’s transistor technology in a SARS-CoV-2 test. The combined solution could greatly simplify serological testing for the virus and help monitor immunity in individuals and populations over time.

Olympus Corp. has unveiled its plans to acquire Veran Medical Technologies Inc. for up to $340 million. The buy will go through Olympus Corp. of the Americas (OCA) and is part of the company’s corporate strategy revealed in November 2019. It marks the second M&A-related announcement in about a month.

Livanova plc has inked an agreement with Gyrus Capital SA to divest its heart valve business. The sale has an enterprise value of €60 million (US$73 million) and is expected to wrap up in the first half of next year. The Livanova board has already given its unanimous assent for the deal. Livanova now expects to strengthen its focus on its neuromodulation and cardiovascular platforms.

PERTH, Australia – Melbourne-based Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is acquiring Scintec Diagnostics GmbH subsidiary Therapharm GmbH in a deal worth AU$33 million (US$24.24 million) plus royalties. Zug, Switzerland-based Therapharm has developed a portfolio of radiolabeled diagnostic and therapeutic products, and the deal brings Telix a new targeting asset in hematology, Telix CEO Chris Behrenbruch told analysts during a Dec. 1 conference call.

New artificial intelligence capabilities will be integrated into widely used genomic testing for breast cancer under a new partnership formed by Agendia Inc. and Paige.ai. The two companies are working together to enhance the genomic information from Agendia's Mammaprint and Blueprint diagnostic tests with AI-based digital diagnostics provided by Paige with the goal of redefining precision oncology.

Varian Medical Systems Inc. has invested $10 million in and inked a collaboration agreement with Cota Inc., a Boston-based curator of oncology clinical data. The radiation oncology company will now offer its customers access to Cota’s oncology real-world analytics and data curation services, which aggregate electronic health record (EHR) data to yield meaningful insights.

PARIS – Oncomfort SA has entered a partnership with Vygon SA for distribution of its Sedakit in six countries in Europe. The synergy between Vygon’s specialization and Oncomfort’s fields of application aims to enable greater acceleration of the adoption of Digital Sedation by health care professionals and patients. “Thanks to this strategic partnership, our new technology for relieving patient pain and anxiety without medication is going to be widely available in Europe,” Mario Huyghe, CEO of Oncomfort, told BioWorld.

Perkinelmer Inc. is looking to bolster its life sciences offerings with the purchase of cell engineering company Horizon Discovery Group plc for $383 million. The all-cash acquisition will add gene-editing and gene-modulation tools to Perkinelmer’s existing portfolio of discovery and applied genomics solutions. Headquartered in Cambridge, U.K., Horizon provides CRISPR and RNA interference (RNAi) reagents, cell models, cell engineering and based editing products to aid in drug discovery and development.

Precision oncology company Genetron Holdings Ltd. has entered an exclusive licensing agreement for Seq-MRD, a diagnostic assay for detecting and monitoring minimal residual disease (MRD) in select hematologic cancers from med-tech startup Hangzhou Immuquad Biotechnologies Co. Ltd.