Israel’s venture capital firm Pitango has raised $175 million for a new fund focused on backing entrepreneurs leveraging data science, artificial intelligence (AI), medical devices and novel biology to transform health care. Pitango Healthtech II is the firm’s second fund dedicated to health care and will see investment go into 15 companies ranging from those at the seed stage to those wanting commercial stage investment.
Amber Therapeutics Ltd. has acquired Bioinduction Ltd. as well as its neuromodulation therapy platform, Picostim Dyneumo. Amber is currently using the platform, an implantable system to deliver its closed-loop therapy for mixed urinary incontinence, Amber-UI, in a first-in-human study. With early indications confirming the safety and feasibility of the surgical procedure and adaptive therapy, it made sense to acquire the hardware which allows for the therapy to work, CEO Aidan Crawley, CEO and co-founder of Amber told BioWorld.
The pivotal ADVENT trial of the Farapulse pulsed field ablation (PFA) system developed by Boston Scientific Corp. returned positive results at one year, according to a presentation at the ESC Congress 2023 that was simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study compared Farapulse, a nonthermal treatment that ablates heart tissue, to radiofrequency or cryoablation, the current standards of care for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.
Four months after raising $55 million, Magenta Medical Ltd. reported the completion of enrollment to a U.S. FDA-approved early feasibility study with the Elevate percutaneous left ventricular assist device (pLVAD).
The German med-tech associations Bvmed and VDGH have hit out at the shortcomings of the EU medical device regulations and are calling for action to improve implementation, predictability and transparency of the system.
Blood biomarkers have been found in patients hospitalized with acute COVID-19 that are predictive of the cognitive defects of long COVID. Post COVID-19 deficits in cognition, including brain fog, are common and debilitating. They are also clinically complex, with both objective and subjective components. In the U.K., one in eight patients received their first ever neurological or psychiatric diagnosis within six months following COVID-19.
The U.K. government’s recent allocation of £13 million (US$16.5 million) to fund research that will deliver cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) projects is a sign of its ongoing commitment to use the latest innovative technologies to modernize the health care sector. However, a group of MPs have released a report which warned that although AI offers significant opportunities there remains governance challenges that must be addressed.
Medalliance SA reported completion of patient enrollment in the SAVE clinical trial with its Selution SLR 018 drug-eluting balloon. Eighty-four subjects have been recruited for this prospective multi-center, single-blinded, randomized controlled trial. These patients received either standard high-pressure balloon angioplasty followed by local application of Selution SLR, or else high-pressure balloon angioplasty with no further lesion treatment.
Cochlear Ltd. and Sensorion SA have published encouraging results on the combination of a molecule with a cochlear implant. Their proof-of-concept phase 2a study involved the combination of an orphan drug recognized in both Europe and the U.S. with cutting edge hearing aid implants to enhance the auditory capabilities of hearing aid users.
Abcam plc closed out a three-month whirlwind of activity on August 28 with an agreement to sell the medical consumables company to Danaher Corp. for a purchase price of $24 per share in cash, a 2.7% premium over the previous closing price, and assumption of approximately $200 million in debt. The deal, which has an enterprise value of $5.7 billion, is expected to close in mid-2024.
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