With the number of people with dementia in Australia expected to nearly double by 2054, the federal government is funding a new AU$50 million (US$32.76 million) biomedical and med-tech incubator program to develop new therapies, medical devices and digital health technologies to address dementia and cognitive decline.

Alamar Biosciences Inc.’s substantially oversubscribed series C pushed the company’s total funds raised to $250 million. The company closed the first $100 million on Feb. 26 and expects to close an additional $28 million within 30 days. The target for the series C was $100 million. The funds will be used to drive market adoption of its Argo HT system and nucleic acid linked immune-sandwich assay sequencing (NULISAseq) inflammation panel 250 for deep profiling of immune response.

Companies and investors, well aware of the natural up and down fluctuations of the market, keep expecting the current downturn to end. They’ve been expecting it to begin an upturn for the past two years. During a Feb. 26 session on venture capital trends at the BIO CEO & Investor Conference in New York, investors said the tough times might well extend further into 2024 than they would like.

With the number of people with dementia in Australia expected to nearly double by 2054, the federal government is funding a new AU$50 million (US$32.76 million) biomedical and med-tech incubator program to develop new therapies, medical devices and digital health technologies to address dementia and cognitive decline.

Early-stage health care companies developing breakthrough medical technologies were given some good news recently with the launch of a new accelerator program by Israel’s Arc Innovation aimed at giving startups a $250,000 cash injection. With a $10 million investment from Ilex Medical Ltd., the initiative is looking to empower early-stage companies by providing financial backing, expert guidance and a support network.