Sonio SAS closed its series A fundraising round raising $14 million that will go some way in helping the company deliver on its mission to improve access to quality pregnancy monitoring for women everywhere through its software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. Sonio has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) prenatal screening solution that automates ultrasound reporting while providing image quality control and detection of potential anomalies. The capital raise was led by Cross-Border Impact Ventures, a North American impact fund dedicated to the health of women and children.
The U.K. medical research charity Lifearc has launched the first part of a £100 million (US$130 million) plan to promote translation of biomedical research into therapies for rare diseases, opening the program with a £2.5 million call for projects to repurpose existing drugs to treat the debilitating inherited skin disease epidermolysis bullosa (EB).
Nuclidium AG, an early stage radiopharmaceuticals and radiodiagnostics developer, aims to bypass the production constraints that have hampered other firms in the field by employing copper radioisotopes for both therapeutic and imaging purposes.
The European Commission (EC) fined Illumina Inc. a record €432 million (US$476 million) for closing the acquisition of Grail Inc. before receiving regulatory approval. It is the highest fine ever imposed on a company by the EC for completing a deal without its consent. Grail was fined €1,000. The companies were found to be in breach of EU merger control rules.
Researchers from the Institute of Translational Genomics at Helmholtz Munich have described a genetic overlap between type 2 diabetes (T2D), a disease that is also associated with obesity, and osteoarthritis, a degeneration of the joints that worsens with age and coincides in the factor risk of being overweight. The researchers used genetic data, multiomics and functional analysis of the tissues T2D and osteoarthritis express to identify which genes were associated and correlated with both diseases. They published their results on July 10, 2023, in The American Journal of Human Genetics.
South African Rugby and the U.S. National Football League (NFL) are actively studying ways to more quickly and reliably diagnose concussions and find more effective treatment for their sequelae. Researchers at the University of Birmingham and Marker Diagnostics Ltd. have identified a biomarker that signals a concussion has occurred, while a team at Electrocore Inc. is working with the NFL to address post-concussion headaches.
Five months after raising $45 million, Lunaphore Technologies SA reported its consent to be acquired by Bio-Techne Corp., a reagents and instruments manufacturer for the diagnostic market. This acquisition by the Nasdaq-listed bio-tech giant, “will enable us to begin a worldwide commercial rollout of our products and automated spatial biology technology,” Ata Tuna Ciftlik, co-founder and CEO of Lunaphore Technologies, told BioWorld. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed. This acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023.
Thirona BV has been awarded $2.73 million in funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC) to fast-track the development of its artificial intelligence (AI)-based lung platform to analyze chest CT imaging. In competition with 554 other submissions, Thirona was one of 51 innovative technology companies awarded the EIC accelerator program grant, the total budget for which is €261 million (US$286.28 million) in 2023.
Electromedical Products International Inc. (EPI) Alpha-Stim AID technology is finally being made available by the NHS in the U.K. to treat patients with anxiety some two years after the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said there was not enough good-quality evidence to support the case for routine adoption.
After 50 years of censorship, there is now growing pressure on EU policymakers to stand up and play a role in promoting the development of psychedelics as medicines and in preparing the ground to ensure equitable access once there are approved products.
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