Teleflex Inc. reported that Stephen Klasko will step down as chair of the board, and said it intends to establish a new Growth and Operating Committee as well as repurchase $1 billion of its shares. The moves come amid pressure from activist investor Irenic Capital Management, which owns a 2% stake and recently urged the company to take a more constructive and responsible approach to evaluating strategic alternatives, after Teleflex declined to engage with potential acquirors despite interest from multiple credible parties.
In a departure from its focus on using implanted electrodes to treat urinary incontinence, Amber Therapeutics Ltd. has filed for protection of similar approaches to treat sexual dysfunction and pelvic pain.
Uromems SAS is seeking patent protection for a system for the control of an inflatable implant device with a variable volume fluid reservoir that may be used to plug an anatomical duct such as a urethra, gastric duct, colon, or rectum, or configured for use as a penile implant.
Amber Therapeutics Ltd. has acquired Bioinduction Ltd. as well as its neuromodulation therapy platform, Picostim Dyneumo. Amber is currently using the platform, an implantable system to deliver its closed-loop therapy for mixed urinary incontinence, Amber-UI, in a first-in-human study. With early indications confirming the safety and feasibility of the surgical procedure and adaptive therapy, it made sense to acquire the hardware which allows for the therapy to work, CEO Aidan Crawley, CEO and co-founder of Amber told BioWorld.
Astek Diagnostics Inc. has wound up a successful $2 million early stage VC funding round to support the development and launch of a medical device designed for the speedy recovery of patients suffering from urinary tract infections (UTI). The Baltimore-based startup has designed a benchtop analyzer and disposable cartridge called the Jiddu that can detect bacterial infection in urine in one hour.
Anhui Happiness Workshop Medical Equipment Co. Ltd.'s single use ureteroscope was approved by China’s NMPA, becoming the first domestically developed electronic soft ureteroscope to monitor intrarenal pressure during procedures.
Elidah Inc. expanded its line of U.S. FDA-cleared, over-the-counter devices to reduce or eliminate urinary incontinence in women with the launch of Elitone Urge for urge incontinence. The device is a muscle stimulator that can be worn under clothes as the user goes about her day and rebuilds muscle tone.
Minze Health NV closed on $4.1 million of seed funding to develop its digital solution for the treatment of urinary tract problems. Three major Belgian funds participated in this seed round, led by White Fund SA, a private equity fund focusing on med-tech. Capricorn Partners NV joined White Fund via its Digital Growth fund, alongside Flemish investment company PMV NV.
Uromems SAS reported the successful completion of the first-in-human implant of a smart, automated artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) device for treating stress urinary incontinence (SUI). This initial pilot study recently saw the first male patient implanted with the Uroactive System at Paris’s La Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital and is considered by the company to be a key milestone in the technology’s development.
Rsip Vision Ltd. has debuted a new tool for making 3D reconstructions of the ureter. The vendor-neutral tool, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) and deep-learning algorithms to make 3D reconstructions, is available to third-party medical device companies using three-arm imaging and viewer solutions.