Avacta Group plc has continued its growth through M&A strategy with the acquisition of Coris Bioconcept Sprl, a developer of rapid diagnostic test kits, for an up-front cash consideration of £7.4 million (US$9.3 million). The Coris deal comes on the back of its £24 million purchase of Launch Diagnostics Holdings Ltd last year, as Avacta works on building up its diagnostics division.
In a new health technology assessment, the U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has voiced misgivings about the evidence behind the use of MRI/ultrasound fusion systems to perform needle biopsy for suspected prostate cancer. NICE said the evidence for these systems could be bolstered by additional research comparing fusion biopsy to cognitive fusion-directed biopsy, suggesting that companies working in this space have a significant evidentiary lift in front of them.
The U.K. government should speed up the approval process for medical devices and strengthen the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, as there is an opportunity for the country to provide global leadership in life sciences regulation in medical devices and medicines on the back of Brexit, according to a report.
Tissium SA reported the close of a series D funding round, raising $54 million from investors both new – such as Mérieux Développement SAS – and long-term, including Cathay Capital Co. Ltd., Crédit Mutuel Innovation SAS and original investors, Sofinnova Partners SAS.
The U.K. government has announced £121 million (US$148 million) in funding to reboot the commercial clinical trials system after a sharp decline saw the number of industry-sponsored studies falling by 44% from 2017 to 2021.
Researchers from the French institute of health and medical research (INSERM) and the University of Bordeaux, France, have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to leverage hospital data for trauma patients. They have published results for a new algorithm capable of classifying trauma-related emergency room visits in the Journal of Medical Internet Research – Artificial Intelligence. “Thanks to this new AI tool, we have generated highly accurate data that allows us to accurately classify the mechanisms of trauma, which represent one third of emergency room visits in France,” said Gabrielle Chenais, research specialist and data scientist at the Bordeaux Population Health (BPH) Research Centre. BPH is a research body run by INSERM and the University of Bordeaux.
The French National Authority for Health, known in France as the Haute Autorité de la Santé (HAS), recently published a favorable opinion regarding reimbursement for the first diagnostic test to benefit under an innovation initiative. The test is the Metaglut1 test from Metafora Biosystems SAS, a non-invasive diagnostic test that identifies glucose transporter type 1 deficiency syndrome (Glut1DS).
The EU’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act is still in the thick of the legislative process, which seems likely to ladle even more regulatory liabilities onto AI software used for medical purposes. Bodo Wiegand, senior advisory at Viopsy, told attendees at a May 18 webinar that between the promise of yet more regulation along with existing coverage and reimbursement hurdles in the EU, developers of medical software are considering whether they should steer clear of developments that qualify as AI simply because of the extraordinary time and expense associated with generating revenues for these projects.
Elixir Medical Corp. reported that the Bioadaptor randomized controlled trial which compared its Dynamx coronary drug-eluting bioadaptor system to Dublin-based Medtronic plc’s Resolute Onyx drug-eluting stent (DES) in de novo native coronary arteries, met its primary endpoint of target lesion failure (TLF) non-inferiority at 12 months. The results were presented at a late-breaking clinical session during the EuroPCR 2023 conference in Paris.
Abbott Laboratories Inc. reported late-breaking data from the Bright study which showed that its Triclip transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) system reduced tricuspid regurgitation and improved the quality of life of patients with leaky tricuspid valves. The results from the largest real-world dataset were presented, for the first time, at the EuroPCR 2023 conference in Paris.
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