The latest patenting from Canan Dagdeviren seeks protection for their wearable, conformable ultrasound breast patch that enables standardized and reproducible image acquisition over the entire breast with less reliance on operator training and applied transducer compression.

Dongkook Life Science Co. Ltd. (DKLS) priced a ₩18 billion (US$12.5 million) IPO on the Korea Exchange as South Korea’s first med-tech listing of the year.

Shanghai Microport Medbot (Group) Co. Ltd. won China National Medical Products Administration approval of its self-developed Toumai single-arm and single-port laparoscopic surgical robot.

Radiopharm Theranostics Ltd.’s radiotracer RAD-101 (F18-Pivalate) successfully detected brain metastases in a variety of primary solid tumors in a phase II study.

The Comma Collective Inc. raised $2 million in a seed round to support the launch of its secure period tracker and disease detection app, Sara, and further development of its products.

C the Signs Ltd. recently received a capital injection of $8 million from Khosla Ventures to expand its AI-powered cancer prediction platform to the U.S. market.

Tensive S.r.l. raised €14 million (US$14.5 million) in a series A financing round for its bio-absorbable breast implant Regenera, for patients undergoing reconstructive surgery after lumpectomy. The funds will be used to complete a pivotal clinical trial to evaluate the safety and performance of the technology.

Owlstone Medical Ltd. recently secured $27 million in the first close of its series E financing round for clinical trials and product commercialization based on its Breath Biopsy platform technology. The fundraise was led by Ventura Capital, joined by Aviva Ventures, Horizons Ventures and other existing investors.

AI pulled in major financings and approvals for Asia med-techs in 2024 as Asia Pacific countries played to individual strengths to maximize AI’s applications in the health care sector. While breakaway AI technologies like OpenAI’s ChatGPT reshaped and boosted many industries, AI also drove major financings for APAC med-techs weathering a wider macroeconomic downturn, with AI-based companies accounting for five out of 11 IPOs tracked on BioWorld’s med-tech IPOs list.

The Asia Pacific med-tech industry is expected to grow to $225 billion by 2030. Despite that rosy outlook, the landscape become increasingly challenging as med-tech investment saw a notable downturn since its peak in 2021, with venture financing and M&A deals decreasing by 22% and 37%, respectively, over the past two years.