Roche Holding AG entered into a definitive agreement to buy Lumiradx Ltd.’s point-of-care technology platform for $350 million. The deal is part of Roche’s effort to transform its point-of-care portfolio and enable more patient-centric health care. For Lumiradx, the sale is the end of a journey to restructure and refocus the company and will result in it being delisted from Nasdaq.
After years of battling to retain its hold on Grail Inc., Illumina Inc. finally announced that it will be unwinding the ill-fated acquisition of the multi-cancer early detection test maker. In addition to stiff opposition from activist investor Carl Icahn that cost Illumina’s previous CEO and board chair their positions, European and U.S. regulators have consistently opposed the deal.
Med-tech financings surpassed $1 billion again in November, with transactions totalling $1.02 billion for the month. Though a decline from the $1.23 billion raised in October, the value is up from September’s $645.75 million.
Smith+Nephew plc struck a deal to acquire Cartiheal Ltd. for $180 million at closing and $150 million in contingent payments, seven months after Bioventus Inc. backed out of its agreement to buy the developer of the Agili-C cartilage regeneration platform for $450 million.
Acutus Medical Inc. revealed plans after the Nasdaq closing bell on Nov. 8 to abandon the electrophysiology business as part of a massive restructuring that will leave the company entirely committed to manufacturing and distribution of Medtronic plc’s left-heart access products. The shift will put 65% of Acutus employees out of work and leaves the future of its cardiac ablation and mapping products up in the air.
Management teams beset by angry activist investors may take some solace in Ernst & Young (EY)’s latest Pulse of the Industry report, which confirms what med-tech executives have said for the better part of two years. A post-COVID-19 slump combined with inflation and other unfavorable capital conditions have slammed the global med-tech industry back to earth with little likelihood of a return to the halcyon days of 2021 any time soon.
Theken Companies LLC reported the acquisition of Visionair Solutions Inc. from the Cleveland Clinic, a deal that adds pulmonary therapy to its broad portfolio with Visionair’s 3D platform for the creation of silicon stents for central airway obstructions (CAOs). Terms of the transaction, which has officially closed, were not disclosed.
Med-tech deal values the first seven months of the year are up more than 50% from last year. Meanwhile, M&As decreased almost 70% from the same time period in 2022.
Enochian Biosciences Inc.changed its name toRenovaro Biosciences Inc. and reported a deal to merge part of the company with Gedi Cube Intl Ltd. in an effort to move on from recent controversies. “Renovaro, Latin for ‘renewal,’ represents our company’s mission,” said Mark Dybul, CEO of the company.
The proposed $875 million acquisition of Cook Medical Inc.’s reproductive health business by the Coopercompanies Inc. has been scotched, a development lauded by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in a statement describing the proposed transaction as anticompetitive. However, the FTC statement also pointed to cooperation from authorities in both the U.K. and Australia as critical in forcing the abandonment of the transaction, a signal that such cooperation is likely to grow in the future.