Med-tech M&A activity cooled in 2025, with total reported deal value falling to about $42.14 billion, down from $57.9 billion in 2024 and far below the levels seen in 2021 and 2022, when annual totals exceeded $150 billion.

Genedx Holding Corp. launched Genomedx Prenatal, its whole genome sequencing test, to provide more definitive diagnoses of the causes of fetal abnormalities identified by ultrasound. By combining the company’s decade of experience in prenatal exome testing and its massive Genedx Infinity rare disease dataset, the test can determine not just whether a pregnancy has a risk of a genetic disorder but whether the fetus actually has a genetic disorder.

Natera Inc. completed the acquisition of Foresight Diagnostics Inc. in a deal structured as $275 million up front plus contingent payments of up to $175 million based on achieving certain milestones for revenue and reimbursement coverage. The companies expect to close the transaction in the second quarter of 2026.

Freenome Holdings Inc. reported it is going public via a special purpose acquisition company. The company said it expects to raise $330 million, which it plans to use for the 2026 launch of its blood-based screening tests for multiple cancers. Backed by an affiliate of Perceptive Advisors - Perceptive Capital Solutions Corp. (PCSP) – and joined by RA Capital, the arrangement includes a commitment of $240 million in equity investments plus about $90 million more held by the SPAC’s trust fund. Other notable investors, including ADAR1 Capital, Bain Capital Life Sciences, and Farallon Capital Management have signed on to participate in the deal.

Abbott Laboratories made plans to enter the cancer screening market with its reported acquisition of Exact Sciences Corp. The deal will pay Exact Sciences shareholders $105 per share in cash, a nearly 50% premium to Exact’s unaffected share price on Nov. 19. That represents a total equity value of approximately $21 billion and an estimated enterprise value of $23 billion.

Exact Sciences Corp. rolled out its multi-cancer early detection test nationwide to expand screening and identify malignancies when treatment has the greatest chance of being curative. Cancerguard can detect signals for cancers accounting for more than 80% of all cancer diagnoses in the U.S. each year.

The U.S. International Trade Commission advised the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that the court has no jurisdiction in an ongoing lawsuit between Masimo Inc. and Apple Inc. regarding the latter’s purportedly patent infringing digital health products.

With an at least $60 billion total addressable market, the liquid biopsy sector offers abundant opportunity for multiple companies to swim to the top. The six largest companies in the pool have just dipped their toes in the water, with a total penetration of only 10%, a white paper from RBC indicates.

Natera Inc., a developer of cell-free DNA testing, provided an update on its product portfolio at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Jan. 15. The company disclosed a new version of the Signatera assay that leverages the genome. Natera said the test, now available for research and clinical use, enables bespoke assay design from a whole genome sequence of a patient’s tumor.