Minze Health NV closed on $4.1 million of seed funding to develop its digital solution for the treatment of urinary tract problems. Three major Belgian funds participated in this seed round, led by White Fund SA, a private equity fund focusing on med-tech. Capricorn Partners NV joined White Fund via its Digital Growth fund, alongside Flemish investment company PMV NV.
Wangli Technology, a subsidiary of Adai Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd., has raised ¥100 million (US$14 million) to continue developing digital therapeutics aimed at mental health indications.
The U.S. FDA has given the green light to Aeye Health Inc. for its autonomous diagnostic screening system for diabetic retinopathy. The Aeye Diagnostic Screening (Aeye-DS) uses artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose the eye condition from retinal images captured by a fundus, or retinal, camera.
Cardiai Inc. has developed a small, portable monitor that continuously measures patients’ blood pressure (BP) at regular intervals for up to seven days, well beyond the single measurements historically done in a doctor’s office.
Six minutes of walking data collected by a smartphone sensor could provide population level health screening, researchers reported in PLOS Digital Health. The study tracked more than 100,000 people as they went about their day wearing activity monitors similar to motion sensors used in smartphones. The sensors captured information on intensity from short burst of walking to predict five-year mortality risk, independent of age and sex.
Med tech firms are becoming quite familiar with the world of digital health in recent years, but this has often been a pairing of strange bedfellows at best up to now. A new report by Accenture on industry adoption of digital health lays out some of the reasons for that, but some impediments come from government, such as the lag in development of regulatory policies for artificial intelligence (AI) and software as a medical device (SaMD).
The U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has opened a consultation on the use of five digital health products that can be used to help children and adolescents better manage anxiety or low mood.
Predictive analytics startup Intus Care Inc. scooped up $14.1 million in a series A round led by Deerfield Management. The funds will be used to advance and scale its software platform for geriatric care.
Israeli technology startup foundry Team8 Labs Ltd. has established a new digital health arm aimed at building and scaling digital health companies. The company plans to create six to eight digital health care companies over the next five years, infusing each with $5 million to $10 million in seed money plus additional resources and services.
Vicore Pharma Holding AB and its partner Alex Therapeutics AB reported positive results from the U.S. pilot phase of a study assessing the effects of digitally delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in treating anxiety in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The four-week study in 10 patients found the digital therapeutic, called Almee, functioned properly, was safe and the user experience was favorable.