Redwood City, Calif.-based Q Bio Inc., which is offering a quantitative assessment of personal health, has come out of stealth mode, scooping up $40 million in a series B funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. The funds are earmarked to improve its proprietary platform and technology to make its preventive health services faster, better and more affordable for all. Read More
Making routine diagnostic blood tests less invasive, easier, cheaper and more accessible is a worthy goal. But achieving it has eluded many, including former unicorn startup Theranos that boasted it had achieved precisely that but then was later exposed as a fraud. Established med-tech player Becton, Dickinson and Co. (BD) and Babson Diagnostics Inc. have established a long-term strategic partnership to bring laboratory quality, small-volume blood collection into the retail pharmacy setting. Read More
The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it may tack on another three years to the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) program, proposing among other things to drop the 50% cap on gainsharing payments. Analysts with Cowen Washington Research Group, of New York, said post-acute care providers are at greater risk than device makers with the extension, however, due to the fact that hospitals have several choices in terms of discharge destination, including the patient’s home. Read More
TORONTO – The head of a of Kitchener, Ontario-based surgical robotics firm has overseen the launch of Canada’s first industry-led hub dedicated to helping med-tech startups commercialize and scale up their technologies and businesses. Intellijoint Surgical Inc. CEO Armen Bakirtzian founded the Medical Innovation Xchange (MIX) for advanced startup companies that understand their markets and have completed initial steps for the design and manufacture of their technology. Read More
DUBLIN – Meda AB’s acquisition in 2014 of the veteran Italian specialty pharma firm Rottapharm generated a €1.975 billion (US$2.2 billion) payday for the latter firm’s owners, the Rovati family. A small fraction of that amount is now being recycled into a new investment initiative, Aurora Science, which is a three-way partnership among Monza-based Rottapharm Biotech Srl (the R&D arm of the company that was not part of the Meda transaction), the Milan-based specialty pharma Italfarmaco SpA and Aurora-TT Srl, a Milan-based commercial technology transfer company. Read More
The latest global regulatory news, changes and updates affecting medical devices and technologies, including: Fist Assist Devices, Milestone Scientific. Read More
Keeping you up to date on recent developments in neurology, including: Therapeutic cooling targets site of newborn brain injury; Boys with inattention-hyperactivity face increased risk for traumatic brain injuries; Nanogold improves MS symptoms; Thanks for the memories, myelin. Read More
