The recent uptick in med-tech deals is a sign technologies that are solving unmet clinical needs are finally coming to fruition, Antoine Papiernik, chairman and managing partner at Sofinnova Partners, told BioWorld in an interview.

Research into the regulation of gene expression experienced a significant breakthrough with the discovery of microRNA, small RNA molecules that do not code for proteins but control their translation. This finding has earned its discoverers – Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun – the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.”

Exact Sciences Corp.’s Cologuard Plus received U.S. FDA pre-market approval as a non-invasive colorectal cancer home screening test. The next-generation, stool-based assay, developed in conjunction with the Mayo Clinic, reduces false positives by 30% compared to the original Cologuard test without diminishing its sensitivity for cancer or advanced adenomas.

Organox Ltd. gained approval from Health Canada for its Metra system for use during liver transplantation. The system utilizes normothermic machine perfusion to maintain donor livers under physiologic conditions prior to transplantation.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University have filed for protection of their Optimal Target Identification via Modelling of Arrhythmogenesis technology – a method that builds a model of a patient’s heart from a cardiac MRI.