T2 Biosystems Inc. is accelerating development of its T2biothreat and T2resistance panels, direct-from-blood panels that detect the six pathogens most likely to be weaponized and 13 common antibiotic resistance genes, respectively. A $4.4 million Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) cost-sharing contract will be used to advance clinical trials for the tests. The total potential funding from BARDA under the contract is $69 million.
Following a traumatic birth experience with her second child, Baymatob Ltd. Founder and engineer Sarah McDonald felt she had a moral obligation to do something to help women, and she developed a wearable device that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify mothers during labor who are at high risk of developing abnormal postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) well before giving birth.
Just nine months after a $55 million series B fundraising round, Billiontoone Inc. delivered an oversubscribed series C of $125 million. Demand for the company’s Unity prenatal test, which can assess fetal risk for common recessive conditions and aneuploidies using one maternal blood sample, tripled over the last year.
Less than a year after winning approval in China for the first domestically developed antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), Remegen Co. Ltd. raised ¥2.6 billion (US$410 million) and picked up a listing on the Shanghai STAR market to support further work on its monoclonal antibodies and ADCs.
Jiangsu Recbio Technology Co. Ltd. raised HK$765 million ($97.7 million) in a Hong Kong stock exchange IPO on March 31. Shares of the vaccine maker (HKEX: 2179) opened at HK$25 per share and rose 1.8% to close at HK25.25 apiece. The Jiangsu, China-based company plans to use about half the proceeds, or HK$317.9 million, to support development and commercialization of its HPV vaccines, including its lead asset, a phase III recombinant HPV 9-valent vaccine REC-603, a spokesperson told BioWorld. The company also plans to set up an HPV manufacturing facility in Taizhou, China.
Health tech firm Qure.ai Technologies Private Ltd. has secured a $40 million investment from investors including Novo Holdings and Healthquad to expand its portfolio of automated artificial intelligence (AI)-based imaging diagnostics. The company’s suite of technologies incorporates deep learning and AI to interpret radiology images such as X-rays, CTs, and ultrasounds in less than a minute.
Vivosense Inc. aims to improve clinical trial recruitment and outcomes by developing new digital biomarkers and clinical outcome assessments (COAs) that use data from wearable devices, a goal made a touch easier by its successful completion of a $25 million series A financing round. The company’s platform is designed to detect and rigorously interpret subtle shifts in physiology using body-worn sensors.