South San Francsico-based Twist Bioscience Corp. and Biotia Inc., of New York, received the first FDA emergency use authorization (EUA) for a capture-based next-generation sequencing (NGS) assay for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The technique reduces the likelihood of misdiagnosing or failing to identify mutations compared to standard sequencing.

Vetex Medical Ltd.'s Revene thrombectomy catheter reduced symptoms and improved quality of life in all patients with iliofemoral vein thrombus in a European clinical study. The results were presented at Venous 2021, the annual meeting of the American Venous Forum.

The rapidly expanding field artificial intelligence (AI)-aided image analysis received a boost with the FDA 510(k) clearance for Optellum Ltd.’s Virtual Nodule Clinic, which helps clinicians evaluate small, potentially malignant lung lesions or nodules. The action makes Optellum’s system the first cleared radiomic application for early lung cancer, an area of active research for the last five years.

Thirteen months after establishing a strategic alliance to distribute 7D Surgical Inc.’s machine-vision, image-guided surgery platform, Seaspine Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:SPNE) signed an agreement to acquire the Toronto-based company. 7D Surgical shareholders will receive $27.5 million in cash plus $82.5 million in Seaspine stock and will hold approximately 13% of Seaspine’s shares at completion. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021.

Medtronic plc obtained the CE mark for its Sensight directional lead system for deep brain stimulation (DBS) for movement disorders and epilepsy, which is designed to be used with the company’s Percept PC DBS device. Percept received U.S. FDA clearance in June 2020 and CE mark in January 2020.

COVID-19 continues to dramatically reconfigure medicine as an ever-broadening array of digital therapies rolls out and telemedicine tackles increasingly complex applications. Abbott Laboratories’ newly launched Neurosphere Virtual Clinic exploits both trends to make management of chronic pain and movement disorders easier for patients.

Happify Inc. secured $73 million through a series D fundraising round and related financing to expand the company's digital health platform. Deerfield Management Company led the latest round, with participation by Omega Capital Partners, Ion Crossover Partners, and existing investors.

Inflammatix Inc. raised $102 million in series D financing to advance development and commercialization of its novel immune response diagnostics portfolio. D1 Capital Partners led the round, with additional funds provided by existing investors Northpond Ventures LLC, Khosla Ventures, Think.Health GmbH, and OSF Healthcare Ventures, among others.

Roche Holding AG will acquire Genmark Diagnostics Inc. for $24.05 per share in cash for a total of $1.8 billion on a fully diluted basis. The transaction will give Basel, Switzerland-based Roche access to Genmark’s molecular diagnostics portfolio. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021. The price represents a 43% premium on the Carlsbad, Calif.-headquartered diagnostics company’s share price as of Feb. 10, prior to media speculation about a potential acquisition.

Neuroclear Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of Biosig Technologies Inc. formed to focus on the emerging field of bioelectronics, was allowed a utility patent by the U.S. Patent Office that the company exclusively licensed from Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Neuroclear aims to use neurostimulation technology to develop novel solutions to challenging physiological and neurological disorders. The company's first target and the focus of the patent is treatment of hypertension via electroporation of renal nerves.