Video game-based Rx therapeutic company Akili charts IPO via $1B SPAC deal
Akili Interactive Inc. is the latest in a growing field of med-tech startups that are merging with special purpose acquisition companies as a backdoor path to an initial public offering. On Wednesday, the digital medicine company reported plans to combine with Social Capital Suvretta Holdings Corp. I in a deal valued at approximately $1 billion.

Video game-based Rx therapeutic company Akili charts IPO via $1B SPAC deal
Akili Interactive Inc. is the latest in a growing field of med-tech startups that are merging with special purpose acquisition companies as a backdoor path to an initial public offering. On Wednesday, the digital medicine company reported plans to combine with Social Capital Suvretta Holdings Corp. I in a deal valued at approximately $1 billion.
Nextkidney acquires Dialyss to launch home dialysis device
Nextkidney BV has signed a deal to buy Dialyss Pte. Ltd. as it gears up to commercialize its home hemodialysis device Neokidney. The Singapore-based startup specializes in sorbent technologies for the regeneration of dialysate and has been a collaborator of Nextkidney’s for six years. The combined team will prepare for a clinical trial in Singapore, followed by a European multicenter trial and CE mark submission in 2023. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Ahead by more than a nose: Intersect study shows lower health care usage with sinus implant
Patients who received Intersect ENT Inc.’s Propel sinus implant had fewer doctor visits, emergency department and urgent care visits and subsequent endoscopies following surgery for chronic rhinosinusitis, a real-world evidence study found.
Promoting ‘healthy competition’ could prove deadly to some M&As
Market pressure for M&As in the life sciences sector and the U.S. government’s determination to crack down on anything that smells of antitrust could be on a collision course this year that’s likely to result in injunctions and a lot more litigation.
Today's news in brief
BioWorld MedTech's briefs for Jan. 26.
Masimo sustains injunction for trade secret at Federal Circuit hearing
Masimo Corp. managed to obtain and uphold an injunction against True Wearables Inc. regarding a pending patent application, which Masimo said would have disclosed a trade secret for pulse oximeters. However, the injunction is only a preliminary injunction, and thus the road ahead may ultimately yield a disclosure of a trade secret that Masimo has dedicated considerable resources to protect.
EU's new innovation scheme invites more stakeholders to the table
LONDON – The EU’s third generation public-private research partnership in health formally got off the ground on Jan. 26, with a promise to invest €2.4 billion (US$2.7 billion) and back 30 large-scale, cross-sector innovation projects by 2030. The Innovative Health Initiative is the successor to the Innovative Medicines Initiatives 1 and 2, which between 2008 – 2020 put €5 billion into precompetitive research to accelerate translation of biomedical research to new drugs.
USPSTF says evidence still lacking regarding screening for atrial fibrillation
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has once again broached the question of whether screening for atrial fibrillation (AF) in asymptomatic patients is a worthwhile exercise in public health, and once again the answer is “we don’t know.”

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Digital health

IBM exits health care with sale of Watson Health to Francisco Partners
Deals and M&A
A year after announcing its intention to sell most of the assets of IBM Watson Health, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) finally reached an agreement with Francisco Partners. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the second half of 2022, were not disclosed. The gutting of...
Digital health dominated med-tech deal activity and drove record M&As in 2021
Analysis and data insight
In one of the most extraordinary years for med-tech mergers and acquisitions, 2021 is the culmination of a snowballing interest in maturing digital technologies amid mounting COVID-19 pandemic problems and uncertain futures. Societal lockdowns in 2020 boosted notice of telehealth, testing and...
Dariohealth gathers in third company in a year
Deals and M&A
With the agreement to purchase Physimax Technologies Ltd. in its rearview mirror, Dariohealth Corp. passes another milestone with its third tuck-in deal in a year. Physimax, a provider of computer vision technology for musculoskeletal (MSK) screening and predictive risk assessment, joins...
Machine learning approach speeds resistance identification
Science
A team led by researchers from the ETH Zürich and the University of Basel has used a combination of mass spectrometry data and machine learning to predict antibiotic resistance of clinical bacterial samples. The results, which were published in the Jan. 10, 2022, issue of Nature Medicine, could...

Financings

Hyivy Health secures CA$1.1M to up the standard in pelvic floor rehab for women
Genitourinary/Sexual Function
TORONTO – Hyivy Health Inc. has secured CA$1.1 million (US$888,000) in pre-seed funding to manufacture, test and obtain medical device approval for a women’s pelvic rehabilitation platform and to explore its use for relieving pelvic pain during clinical trials this summer.

Newco news

Chronus Health raises $22M for portable blood analyzer
Financings
Point-of-care (POC) diagnostics startup Chronus Health Inc. reeled in $22 million in a series A round led by Tarsadia Investments. The company plans to use the funds to scale its research, engineering and data science teams and hasten product and technology development. Monta Vista Capital, Sosv...

Strados Labs reels in $4.5M for smart respiratory sensor
Financings
Investors including SOSV, Cultivate(MD), Wavemaker360 Health, Blu Venture Investors and Broad Street Angels are backing Strados Labs LLC with $4.5 million. The pre-series A funding will be used to accelerate development of the company’s smart sensor platform Resp. The funding comes after Strados...
Nomic in $17M series A funding for high-throughput proteomic platform
Financings
Protein profiling startup Nomic Bio has secured $17 million in an oversubscribed series A financing led by Lux Capital. The funds will be used to expand the company’s servicing and manufacturing labs in Montreal and Boston, to broaden access to its proteomic platform by scaling profiling capacity...

Deals and M&A

Clinisys combines with Horizon and Sunquest for diagnostics super group
Diagnostics
Clinisys Inc. has signed a deal to buy laboratory information company Horizon Lab Systems LLC and combine Sunquest Information Systems under the Clinisys brand. The resulting group will be one of the world's largest laboratory informatics organizations. Clinisys and Sunquest share the same parent...
Sema4 signals commitment to bring genomics to clinical practice with $623M Genedx acquisition
Coronavirus
Sema4 Holdings Corp. sent a bold message to the market with a definitive agreement to acquire Genedx Inc. from Opko Health Inc. for $623 million. The deal comes as Sema4 winds down its COVID-19 testing by the end of March. The company has been one of the largest testing organizations in Connecticut...
Peijia Medical acquires China rights to Jenavalve’s TAVR products for aortic valve diseases
Cardiovascular
Peijia Medical Ltd. has acquired exclusive rights to Jenavalve Technology Inc.’s transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) products for the treatment of aortic regurgitation (AR) and aortic stenosis (AS). Suzhou, China-based Peijia is now able to develop, manufacture, and commercialize the TAVR...
Observe Medical strikes $20.9M deal to buy Biim Ultrasound
Imaging
Oslo-based med-tech company Observe Medical ASA has acquired ultrasound technology firm Biim Ultrasound AS for €18.5 million (US$20.9 million). The company’s combined portfolio includes Observe’s automated, digital urine meter, Sippi, and Biim’s wireless ultrasound probe, Biim, which received...
Viveon and Suneva combine to form $511M aesthetics business
Financings
Viveon Health Acquisition Corp. (VHAQ) reported a merger deal with regenerative aesthetics company Suneva Medical Inc. According to the terms of the deal, the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), will issue 25 million shares and up to 12 million earnout shares to Suneva shareholders. The pro...

Europe

Philips says supply chain troubles hampering growth
Respiratory
Supply chain issues overshadowed Royal Phillips NV fourth-quarter 2021 results, as the Dutch conglomerate reported sales of $5.5 billion (€4.9 billion), a 10% organic year-on-year decline. Philips management said sales were impacted by several headwinds, including supply chain challenges and...

Asia-Pacific

Insulin is tissue-specific, with link to weight complex
Science
A study by researchers led by David James from the University of Sydney showcases the diversity in metabolic responses observed across different mouse strains exposed to two different diets that demonstrates the heritability of metabolic traits.

Connectedhealth launches type 2 diabetes care system Sugosure for Singaporean patients
Diabetes
Digital health company Connectedhealth Pte. Ltd. launched its Sugosure system to offer care management to type 2 diabetes patients in Singapore. The system is aiming to tackle the “poor management” of type 2 diabetes with technology and to reduce the risk of long-term complications, said Ronald...
Researchers restore front-line antibiotics' effects
Science
Researchers at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, the University of Queensland, Griffith University, the University of Adelaide and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have unlocked a key to making existing front-line antibiotics work again against Streptococcus pneumoniae,...

Clinical

Medtronic sees meaningful pain relief with lower-energy DTM spinal cord stimulation
Neurology/Psychiatric
Medtronic plc released initial results showing meaningful pain relief using differential target multiplexed (DTM) spinal cord stimulation (SCS) endurance therapy, a lower-energy form of its DTM SCS treatment for overall, back or leg pain. At three...
Synchron brain-computer interface enables first thought-to-tweet
Neurology/Psychiatric
Synchron Inc. closed out 2021 by providing an opening for a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to send the first thought transferred to a tweet via an implantable brain computer interface. Philip O’Keefe, who received one of the...
Onward nears commercialization of its electrical spinal cord stimulation system
Neurology/Psychiatric
PARIS – Two months after successfully listing on Euronext Brussels and Euronext Amsterdam stock exchanges, raising nearly $100 million, Onward Medical NV reported completion of enrollment in its Up-LIFT study on its noninvasive electrical spinal...
Bellaseno publishes results from study on its Senella soft tissue reconstruction scaffold
3D printing
PARIS – Bellaseno GmbH reported publication of first-in-human data for its 3D-printed biodegradable and highly porous Senella scaffold filled with autologous fat graft to correct a chest deformation in a 22-year-old patient with severe pectus...
Viome study supports new saliva-based biomarker for oral cancer
Cancer
A recently published study demonstrated that Viome Life Science Inc.’s metatranscriptomic signature for oral cancer identified the malignancy from samples of saliva with more than 90% accuracy. The mRNA platform received breakthrough device...
Bellerophon posts strong phase II data in pulmonary hypertension
Top-line data from Bellerophon Therapeutics Inc.’s phase II study of its pulsed inhaled nitric oxide technology, Inopulse, showed decreases in mean pulmonary arterial pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) in treating pulmonary...

BioWorld MedTech Perspectives

Forward to the past: The FDA commissioner dilemma
BioWorld MedTech
As we’ve all undoubtedly noticed, the FDA commissioner’s chair is conspicuously absent a duly deputized occupant, and a number of reasons have been offered...
U.S. politicking threatens public trust in the FDA and CDC
BioWorld MedTech
The truth that every action has a reaction is being proven again in the public square of the U.S. as the shrill, endless clamor of politicians hoping to...
The demise of the device tax and other fun med-tech stories
It’s mighty tempting to run a little play on words with regard to eyesight in this new year, but I need reading glasses, so far be it from me to pepper a...
Missed Opportunity: The epidemic of poor sleep
BioWorld MedTech
There are a lot of ways to save money without going bankrupt in the process, but health care in the U.S. certainly has not lent itself to that sort of...
Next up for TAVR: bicuspid valve
BioWorld MedTech
Now that the existing inventory of FDA-approved transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) devices has received a green light for patients at low...
Cabanas and commissioners; med tech in the news
BioWorld MedTech
We who write about medical devices rarely suffer for content, but the month of May was unusually cooperative even by our standards. Following are two...
FDA’s new man of regulatory mystery
BioWorld MedTech
Life has a lot of unknowns, and one of the big unknowns for 2019 is what the FDA will look like now that Scott Gottlieb has returned to the American...

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