Fire1 Ltd. secured $120 million in financing to conduct a pivotal trial for its heart failure management system, Norm. The technology measures fluid in the inferior vena cava (IVC) and is expected to help the millions of people living with heart failure manage their condition and get their normal life back.

With more than 60 acquisitions completed in the last decade, Stryker Corp. shows little fear in committing to offers that allow it to obtain the companies and technologies that have driven its impressive growth in stock price – up from $92 in Jan. 2015 to $356.70 in Jan. 2025. Still, the definitive agreement to buy Inari Medical Inc. for $4.9 billion comes in at the upper range, along with the $4 billion acquisition of Wright Medical Group NV in 2020 ($5.4 billion with debt included), $3 billion for Vocera Communications in 2022, and $2.8 billion for Sage Products in 2016.

Medtronic plc received CE mark approval for its Harmony transcatheter pulmonary valve system to treat congenital heart disease patients with native or surgically repaired right ventricular outflow tract pulmonary regurgitation.

An artificial intelligence-based tool developed by researchers in the U.K. is helping doctors identify people at risk of developing atrial fibrillation. Data from the ongoing Find-AF pilot study shows that the algorithm can comb through patients’ electronic health records and detect red flags which could indicate whether they are at risk of developing the heart condition.

2024 was another banner year for GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) on multiple fronts. They continued to expand into new indications, and provide their developers with both rich remuneration and scientific acclamation. There are now seven approved GLP-1RAs. Commercially, the most successful one so far is semaglutide, sold under the brand name Wegovy or Ozempic depending on the indication.

AI pulled in major financings and approvals for Asia med-techs in 2024 as Asia Pacific countries played to individual strengths to maximize AI’s applications in the health care sector. While breakaway AI technologies like OpenAI’s ChatGPT reshaped and boosted many industries, AI also drove major financings for APAC med-techs weathering a wider macroeconomic downturn, with AI-based companies accounting for five out of 11 IPOs tracked on BioWorld’s med-tech IPOs list.

The Asia Pacific med-tech industry is expected to grow to $225 billion by 2030. Despite that rosy outlook, the landscape become increasingly challenging as med-tech investment saw a notable downturn since its peak in 2021, with venture financing and M&A deals decreasing by 22% and 37%, respectively, over the past two years.

Dexcom Inc. put real money behind expanding its integration efforts, with a $75 million investment in the $200 million series D for Ōura Health Oy, the maker of the Ōura smart ring. Ōura and Dexcom also provided details on a strategic partnership that integrates data from Dexcom’s continuous glucose monitors with vital sign, sleep, stress, heart health and activity data from the Ōura ring.

A gene therapy based on an enhanced lipid nanoparticle (LNP) loaded with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA could be developed for the treatment of preeclampsia, according to a study in mice in which it alleviated maternal hypertension until the end of gestation and improved fetal health. Preeclampsia is a disease that affects 3% to 5% of pregnant women, who suffer from hypertension and proteinuria, elevated levels of protein in the urine, during pregnancy.

Heartbeam Inc. received U.S. FDA 510(K) clearance for its portable, non-invasive electrocardiogram system that enables on-the-go recording of heart signals. The cable-free, credit card-sized device uses five electrodes to capture signals from three directions and can be used whenever a patient feels symptoms, overcoming the challenge of identifying intermittent arrhythmias, which are often not experienced during scheduled appointments, without requiring patients to wear a device continuously.