Natera envisions cancer-testing future with $450M Foresight buy
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.

Natera envisions cancer-testing future with $450M Foresight buy
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.
Cancer blood test maker Freenome going public with $330M SPAC
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.
Boston Sci brings next-generation Rezūm EVO Console to the UK
The first procedure to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia with Boston Scientific Corp.’s next-generation Rezūm EVO Console was successfully completed in the U.K. The device, which recently received CE mark, is intended to be used with the Rezūm Water Vapor Therapy, a minimally invasive treatment that uses water vapor to reduce prostate tissue.
Today's news in brief
BioWorld MedTech briefs for Dec. 5, 2025.
FDA’s use of generalist field investigators creating new dilemmas
The U.S. FDA’s recent switch toward more routine use of generalist field investigators might be seen in some quarters as an attempt to do more with less, but a session on the topic at the Food and Drug Law Institute’s annual enforcement conference in Washington seems to suggest that this reversal of historic practice presents at least as many problems as solutions for industry.
Hippocratic loath? ‘Harm’ threat from ACIP’s proposed HBV shift
Individual liberty and choice vs. wider public health became one predictable hinge upon which swung the often-acerbic debates at the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting, which took up – again – the matter of hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine scheduling, a day after the panel voted not to vote on such guidance.
Høeg appointment as acting CDER director tied to vaccine strategy?
After a more than 13-year period of stability with Janet Woodcock as the head of CDER, with Patrizia Cavazzoni taking charge during the next four years of former U.S. President Joe Biden’s tenure, the FDA division has had no fewer than five different people in charge throughout 2025. Up to bat now as acting director is Tracy Beth Høeg, a physician and epidemiologist who co-authored a paper in 2022 with CBER Director Vinay Prasad, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and others demonstrating that COVID-19 boosters and college vaccine mandates were harmful to young men due to myocarditis risks.

Digital health

Cha Group to Acquire Majority Stake in Kakao Healthcare
Deals and M&A
Kakao Healthcare Corp. plans to secure ₩100 billion (US$68 million) through two investment deals with Cha Biomedical Group and outside investors by early next year. The transactions, expected to close by the first quarter of 2026, will make Cha the controlling shareholder of Kakao Healthcare with a...
Minze, Medtronic partner on overactive bladder care in EMEA
Urology
Minze Health NV signed a three-year agreement with Medtronic plc to bring its Minze Diary Pod, an app-controlled automated urine collection device, to markets across the EMEA region. The partnership aims to enhance the support services available for patients with overactive bladder receiving sacral...
South Korea ramping up investment in medical device R&D
Regulatory
A four-way interagency initiative in South Korea, started in 2020, is working to bolster funding for the local medical device industry and grow homegrown devices for the global market.
SK Bio, Eurofarma launch Mentis Care for digital epilepsy care
Newco news
SK Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. and Eurofarma Laboratórios SA launched a new joint venture (JV) called Mentis Care Inc. Oct. 21, dedicated to developing an AI-powered platform for epilepsy management.

Financings

Saluda to expand spinal cord stimulation market in AU$231M IPO
Neurology/psychiatric
Saluda Medical Pty Ltd. announced a AU$231 million ($152.7 million) initial public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange to scale up its U.S. footprint for its Evoke spinal cord simulation system for chronic pain.

Newco news

Tulyp emerges from stealth with pressure-driven perfusion system
Clinical
Tulyp Medical Inc. has emerged from stealth mode with a pressure-driven perfusion system designed to improve vascular procedures. The company, born out of Sofinnova Partners' medical device accelerator, has submitted the technology to the U.S. FDA for 510(k) clearance following initial clinical...

Symbyx light therapy shows sustained benefits in Parkinson’s
Gastrointestinal
The largest study ever conducted on light therapy for Parkinson’s disease has found that long-term use of Symbyx Biome Pty Ltd.’s non-invasive, at-home photobiomodulation (PBM) devices significantly improved mobility, anxiety, and overall symptom severity.
Trogenix raises £70M series A for glioblastoma gene therapy trial
Financings
Newco Trogenix Ltd. has emerged from incubation and raised £70 million (US$94.1 million) in a series A, as it prepares the ground for a U.S/U.K. clinical trial of a novel gene therapy construct in glioblastoma multiforme that is due to start at the beginning of 2026.

Deals and M&A

Med-tech deals rebound with a $1.37B surge in Q3
Med-tech dealmaking totaled $1.72 billion through the first three quarters of 2025, signaling a potential rebound in the works from the subdued activity seen in 2024, when publicly reported full-year deal value reached $2.12 billion. Q3 was the strongest quarter so far this year, contributing $1.37...
GE Healthcare expands imaging line with $2.3B Intelerad buy
Imaging
GE Healthcare Technologies Inc. agreed to purchase medical imaging company Intelerad Medical Systems Inc. for $2.3 billion in cash, boosting its capabilities in cardiology and radiology. The deal, expected to close in the first half of 2026, advances GE Healthcare's dual strategies of expanding...
Abbott makes cancer screening play with $21B Exact Sciences buy
Cancer
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...
Solventum agrees to acquire Acera for up to $850M
Dermatologic
Solventum Corp. continued its restructuring with a second significant acquisition this year, the proposed purchase of privately held Acera Surgical Inc. for $725 million in cash plus up to $125 in contingent cash payments based on achievement of specified milestones. St. Louis.-based Acera...
Med-tech collaborations outpace 2024 with a 15% value rise
Med-tech M&A activity cooled in October, with the total disclosed deal value reaching $1.68 billion, a step down from September’s $4.84 billion and well below several stronger months earlier in the year.

Europe

Cosmo data positive for first new hair-loss approach in decades
Clinical
Shares of Cosmo Pharmaceuticals NV rose sharply on Dec. 3 following top-line pivotal phase III data showing a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in male androgenetic alopecia patients receiving clascoterone 5%, the first topical androgen receptor inhibitor, which uses...

Asia-Pacific

Diag-nose.io develops respiratory disease precision diagnostics
Respiratory
A precision medicine diagnostic system developed by Diag-Nose Medical Pty. Ltd. could potentially transform the management of chronic respiratory diseases. Co-founders Eldin Rostrom, David Yen, Brian Wang and Josie Xu set out to explore why patients with similar respiratory symptoms respond so...

China’s Cornerstone Robotics raises $200M series D round
Financings
Cornerstone Robotics Ltd. raised an oversubscribed $200 million series D round to accelerate commercialization of its flagship product, the Sentire Endoscopic Surgical System.
TGA updates ad guidelines to include social media
Regulatory
Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration has made a few adjustments to its advertising guidelines for social media promotions, including the requirement that the manufacturer is responsible for anything posted by influencers who are acting on behalf of the manufacturer.

Clinical

Archeon’s Eolife increases survival rates after cardiac arrest
Cardiovascular
Archeon Medical SAS reported data from a study showing its real-time ventilation feedback device Eolife increased the survival rates of patients suffering out‑of‑hospital cardiac arrests. Furthermore, all the survivors in the Eolife group achieved...
Ocean Dx sepsis test matches gold standard in early study
Infection
A rapid diagnostic test from Ocean Dx SAS delivered gold standard performance in a clinical evaluation that points to a potential shift in how sepsis is identified and treated. The assay, which detects more than 1,000 bacterial species directly...
OCEAN study hints at no need for DOACs after afib ablation
Conferences
Patients and their doctors are no fans of long-term use of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) after ablation treatment for atrial fibrillation, but three-year data from the OCEAN trial suggests that some patients may not need these DOACs after...
FISH&CHIPS serves up appetizing news for Heartflow
Conferences
Shares of Mountain View, Calif.-based Heartflow Inc. have oscillated significantly over the past three months, but the results of a study of the company’s plaque staging system have breathed new life into the company’s shares, boosting them by 7%...
MMI gets IDE for robotic microsurgical study in Alzheimer’s
Neurology/psychiatric
Medical Microinstruments Inc., reported the U.S. FDA approval of an investigational device exemption for a study using its Symani surgical system for treating Alzheimer’s disease, one of its earliest forays into the brain.
Cutting balloons match lithotripsy for clearance of calcification
Conferences
Results of the Shortcut study, presented last week at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics meeting in San Francisco, indicated that cutting balloon angioplasty matched intravascular lithotripsy in coronary artery preparation of...

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