Perkinelmer Inc. is looking to bolster its life sciences offerings with the purchase of cell engineering company Horizon Discovery Group plc for $383 million. The all-cash acquisition will add gene-editing and gene-modulation tools to Perkinelmer’s existing portfolio of discovery and applied genomics solutions. Headquartered in Cambridge, U.K., Horizon provides CRISPR and RNA interference (RNAi) reagents, cell models, cell engineering and based editing products to aid in drug discovery and development.

Precision oncology company Genetron Holdings Ltd. has entered an exclusive licensing agreement for Seq-MRD, a diagnostic assay for detecting and monitoring minimal residual disease (MRD) in select hematologic cancers from med-tech startup Hangzhou Immuquad Biotechnologies Co. Ltd.

Ocular Therapeutix Inc. and Affamed Therapeutics Ltd. entered a license and collaboration agreement to develop and commercialize Dextenza and OTX-TIC in greater China, South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations markets.

Teleflex Inc. reeled in $628.3 million in revenue in the third quarter, down 3.1% from the same period last year but ahead of the Street’s estimate of $619.4 million. Earnings per share also beat consensus, at $2.46 vs. $2.24. The release of the quarterly results dovetailed with Teleflex’s reveal of a definitive agreement to acquire hemostatic products company Z-Medica LLC for up to $525 million.

Shares of early cancer detection company Exact Sciences Corp. soared Tuesday morning on news it is acquiring two liquid biopsy screening companies, Thrive Earlier Detection Corp. and Base Genomics Ltd., for $2.56 billion and selling $869 million of common stock to institutional investors.

PERTH, Australia – Neuroscience technology company Cogstate Ltd. and Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai Co. Ltd. signed a deal under which Eisai will have global development rights and exclusive commercialization rights of all cognitive function tests developed by Cogstate, including the Cogstate Brief Battery (CBB) for use in health care and other markets.

Astellas Pharma Inc. has agreed to acquire Iota Biosciences Inc., a company developing ultra-small implantable bioelectronic medical devices, in a deal valued at up to $429 million. According to a merger agreement, Tokyo-based Astellas will make an initial payment of roughly $127.5 million for all outstanding equity not already held by Astellas. Iota shareholders will receive further payments of up to $176.5 million as Iota completes predetermined milestones. In addition, Astellas has agreed to spend a total of $125 million over the next five years to drive Iota’s growth. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of Astellas’ fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2021.

Although the volume of med-tech deals and mergers and acquisitions in 2020 rival each of the last two years, the level of disclosed values has fallen far short of 2019 in both instances.

Medtronic plc management put an emphasis on being nimble and commercializing novel technology at its investor day this week, and analysts appeared to approve of the message. As Wells Fargo’s Larry Biegelsen noted, Dublin-based Medtronic is moving away from a centralized company that is focused on economic value and margin expansion to one that is more decentralized, emphasizing innovation and topline growth.

COVID-19 has prompted dramatic rethinking of supply chains, health care delivery, regulations, and collaboration that are likely to permanently restructure the med-tech industry, according to industry leaders speaking at a panel during the Advanced Medical Technology Association’s (Advamed) Virtual Medtech Conference on Oct. 6. In addition, the significant increase in debt and strong fundamentals position the industry for a burst of M&A activity.