LONDON – The COVID-19 outbreak appears to be sliding toward pandemic status, with the virus spreading to four more countries and confirmed cases and deaths mounting in infection hotspots in Italy, Iran and South Korea.

DUBLIN – Meda AB’s acquisition in 2014 of the veteran Italian specialty pharma firm Rottapharm generated a €1.975 billion (US$2.2 billion) payday for the latter firm’s owners, the Rovati family. A small fraction of that amount is now being recycled into a new investment initiative, Aurora Science, which is a three-way partnership among Monza-based Rottapharm Biotech Srl (the R&D arm of the company that was not part of the Meda transaction), the Milan-based specialty pharma Italfarmaco SpA and Aurora-TT Srl, a Milan-based commercial technology transfer company.

The 2.3% medical device tax is a thing of the past, and now Medicare coverage is one of the issues that is front and center for the Medical Device Manufacturers Association. MDMA President and CEO Mark Leahey told BioWorld also that while member companies are keen on regulatory harmonization, the struggles in standing up the new European regulatory framework is a far more pressing concern.

SEATTLE – As it enters its third year, the Human Cell Atlas project has mapped 100 million of 100 billion cells, and by comparing gene expression profiles of normal and aberrant cells and building networks of cellular interactions, is leading to breakthroughs in understanding of disease at a molecular level.

DUBLIN – Meda AB’s acquisition in 2014 of the veteran Italian specialty pharma firm Rottapharm generated a €1.975 billion (US$2.2 billion) payday for the latter firm’s owners, the Rovati family. A small fraction of that amount is now being recycled into a new investment initiative, Aurora Science, which is a three-way partnership among Monza-based Rottapharm Biotech Srl (the R&D arm of the company that was not part of the Meda transaction), the Milan-based specialty pharma Italfarmaco SpA and Aurora-TT Srl, a Milan-based commercial technology transfer company.

LONDON – Consumer smartphone apps that use image processing algorithms to assess and monitor potentially cancerous skin lesions have not been properly tested in clinical trials and cannot be relied on to produce accurate results, according to a systematic review of published studies.

PARIS – Sensome SAS, of Palaiseau, France, has closed a second funding round, of $9 million, with its original French investors (Kurma Partners SA, Invest Partners SA, BNP Paribas Développement SA and the Paris-Saclay Seed Fund), now joined by the Japanese-based Asahi Intecc Co. Ltd.

As the deadly coronavirus continues to spread, countries around the world are scrambling to understand the public health threat and identify and quarantine people who may be infected. To that end, Novacyt SA has launched a molecular test that detects only the 2019 strain of the coronavirus, reducing the chance of false diagnoses.

LONDON – Brexit finally becomes a reality at midnight central European time on Jan. 31, but for the life sciences industry uncertainty continues, as the U.K. enters an 11-month transition phase during which the terms of its future relationship with the EU must be negotiated.