Israeli startup Synchrony Medical Ltd. is gearing up to begin a U.S. clinical trial testing an airway clearance method developed at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center. The Libairty device is designed to support chronic lung disease patients to clear mucus with a short home-based daily treatment.

AI-enabled drug discovery company Insilico Medicine Ltd. has raised $60 million in a series D round to support expansion of its pipeline. The Hong Kong and New York-based company will use the proceeds to support clinical testing of its lead asset, a potential treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), as well as the advancement of its Pharma.AI platform.

Pfizer Australia Holdings Pty Ltd. has made an offer to acquire digital health company Resapp Health Ltd. in all cash offer worth AU$100 million (US$74.25 million). The two companies have entered into a binding scheme that is contingent upon shareholder agreement and regulatory clearances in Australia. Shareholders will vote on the proposed acquisition in June, and directors have unanimously recommended that shareholders vote in favor of the acquisition.

Murrysville, Pa.-based Philips Respironics Inc. has had its share of troubles with its devices for respiratory use, including several CPAP machines. The FDA reported March 21 that the company’s V60 and V60 Plus respirators are now the subjects of a class I recall due to the use of an expired adhesive that could ultimately lead to a shut-down of the devices, including instances in which the shut-down would not be accompanied by an alarm.

Clinical researchers from Karl Landsteiner University in Krems, Austria, have been conducting a prospective study of a new diagnostic technique for bronchoscopy tissue sampling aimed at patients with unclear diffuse parenchymal disease. They have assessed morbidity and 30-day and 90-day mortality following transbronchial lung cryobiopsy. The team recently published their findings in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease.

Royal Philips NV has been handed a health care policy order requiring it to recall and replace 277,500 defective respiratory therapy devices in France within four months. Twelve ranges of respiratory device for patients who depend on mechanical breathing assistance as well as continuous positive airway pressure devices used to treat sleep apnea, have been affected by a design issue.

A wearable biosensor developed by Scottish startup Pneumowave Ltd. has been tapped for a clinical trial investigating respiratory depression at King’s College London (KCL). Pneumowave’s respiratory monitoring platform will be used to collect breathing data from patients at risk of experiencing slow and shallow breathing as a side effect of opioid medication.

Supply chain issues overshadowed Royal Phillips NV fourth-quarter 2021 results, as the Dutch conglomerate reported sales of $5.5 billion (€4.9 billion), a 10% organic year-on-year decline. Philips management said sales were impacted by several headwinds, including supply chain challenges and postponement of equipment installations in hospitals related to COVID-19. The recall of the Respironics device also caused a double-digit decline in the sleep & respiratory business.

Investors including SOSV, Cultivate(MD), Wavemaker360 Health, Blu Venture Investors and Broad Street Angels are backing Strados Labs LLC with $4.5 million. The pre-series A funding will be used to accelerate development of the company’s smart sensor platform Resp. The funding comes after Strados received FDA clearance for the product in December 2021 and brings its total raised to $7 million.

PERTH, Australia – Australian digital health company Resapp Health Ltd. received clearance from Australia’s Therapeutics Good Administration and CE mark certification in the EU for its stand-alone cough counter application that tracks cough frequency using a smartphone. The class I software as a medical device is the first regulatory approval for such an application, which uses Resapp’s machine learning algorithms to identify cough events from audio recorded using the smartphone’s in-built microphone.