Keeping you up to date on recent developments in orthopedics, including: Discovery of aging mechanism for hematopoietic stem cells; Long-term study finds dozens of new genetic markers associated with lifetime bone growth; Living alone may increase risk of dying after hip fracture; Bone fracture risk may increase when critical enzymatic processes decline.
New investors think Brainsgate Ltd. has some valuable new ideas, including its novel treatment for ischemic stroke, so they headed up the latest investment round. BNP Joint Capital led the $14 million round as a first-time investor along with Spero and previous investors Elron, Medtronic, Agate, Pitango, and Cipio.
A new $23 million in funds gives Brainbox Solutions Inc. a head start as it begins enrollment in the pivotal clinical trial of its mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) diagnostic and prognostic test. Bioventures Investors took the lead in the series A financing. The Tauber Foundation, the Virginia Tech Carilion Innovation and Seed Funds, Genoa VC, Pharmakon Holdings LLC, and Astia Angels participated in the fundraising round along with qualified investors including the Cleveland Cavaliers' Kevin Love, a mental health advocate.
Bioserenity SAS has gained U.S. FDA clearance for the Neuronaute electroencephalography (EEG) system and Icecap EEG wearable device, which aim to help physicians remotely monitor and assess electrical brain activity of people with epilepsy. The company noted that the Icecap and Neuronaute system will facilitate access to care in a variety of settings, including rural and remote environments.
The U.S. FDA’s safer technologies program, or STeP, is designed in part as a complement to the breakthrough devices program, but the September 2019 draft guidance lent little clarity as to what might constitute a significantly safer device. The Jan. 5, 2021, final guidance does little to clarify that question, however.
Emboline Inc., which is developing technology to reduce the chance of stroke during transcatheter heart procedures, completed a $10 million series C financing. The funds are earmarked to gain initial commercial approval of the company’s Emboliner device and to launch a U.S. pivotal study. The round, which included new and existing investors, follows a $5 million bridge round of financing that closed last January.
The medical device company Distalmotion SA has hit a regulatory milestone in the commercialization of its surgical robot, Dexter, earning a CE mark in Europe. The Dexter surgical robot is built with the aim of allowing surgeons to take a hybrid approach to minimally invasive surgery, using the robot for tasks such as suturing and complex dissections while switching to a laparoscopic approach for stapling and basic dissections.