Vicentra BV has closed a $74 million series C financing round to accelerate the European rollout of its wearable insulin patch. The small, lightweight system Kaleido is the company’s flagship product and consists of two pumps controlled by a Bluetooth wireless connected handset. The small size rests on a pumping action that – unlike a conventional syringe mechanism – uses micro-pulse technology to deliver accurate and consistent doses of insulin.

DUBLIN – The EMA has rejected Biogen Inc.’s application for European Union approval of Aduhelm (aducanumab), its controversial Alzheimer’s disease drug. Its human medicines committee (CHMP) issued a negative opinion on Biogen’s dossier during its December meeting this week, stating that the data from the key studies submitted in support of the application “were conflicting and did not show overall that Aduhelm was effective at treating adults with early stage Alzheimer’s disease.”

PARIS – Dyameo SAS has successfully raised $1.13 million in seed funding to develop its endoscopy probe used for the instantaneous detection of cancerous cells. This round was led by  Medevice SAS and Aquiti Gestion SAS via its co-investment fund, NACO.

Depixus Ltd. has raised $35.4 million in an oversubscribed series A financing to push commercialization of its Magna multiomics system. The series A round was co-led by Lansdowne Partners and PSIM Fund, with participation from Casdin Capital and existing investor Arix Bioscience. The funds bring the company's total equity and grant funding to more than $47 million.

PERTH, Australia – Australia attracted international attention in July when a Federal Court ruled that artificial intelligence can be named as the inventor of a patent. In Thaler v. Commissioner of Patents, Federal Court Justice Jonathan Beach ruled that under Australian patent law, inventors don’t necessarily have to be human. The decision challenges the assumption that only human beings can be inventors. Beach did rule, however, that an AI system cannot apply for a patent or receive a patent.

PARIS – Orixha SAS raised $2.25 million to bolster development of its Vent2cool medical device, pulmonary ventilation technology used in critical care settings. Investment company Erganeo SAS, the Angels Santé business angels group and three French industrial partners – Infiplast SAS, OEM Development SAS and Activation SAS – all participated in the round.

LONDON – Lifelight Ltd. is preparing for a new funding round in the first quarter of 2022 after making significant headway with its contactless technology for monitoring vital signs, as push came to shove during the pandemic and remote patient monitoring became a necessity.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is continuing a streak of investments in the med-tech space, signing a €20 million (US$22 million) loan agreement with Midiagnostics NV, to scale-up a new rapid COVID-19 PCR test. Leuven, Belgium-based Midiagnostics is developing a rapid PCR test for SARS-CoV-2, which can achieve an accuracy speed 20 times faster than classic PCR machines. A nasopharyngeal swab sample is transferred on a PCR testcard, from which the results are read by a compact reader. Pilot programs for the test began at Brussels Airport this month, with a market launch pegged for Spring 2022.

LONDON – New figures underline the devastating effect the pandemic is having on cancer clinical research, with recruitment to U.K. studies falling by 60%. A total of 27,734 patients were recruited in 2020/21, compared to an average of 67,057 in the three years previously. Over those three years, recruitment had been on the rise, going from 61,810 in 2017/18 to 71,709 in 2019/20, according to figures compiled by the Institute of Cancer Research in London.