The European Investment Bank (EIB) is continuing a streak of investments in the med-tech space, signing a €20 million (US$22 million) loan agreement with Midiagnostics NV, to scale-up a new rapid COVID-19 PCR test. Leuven, Belgium-based Midiagnostics is developing a rapid PCR test for SARS-CoV-2, which can achieve an accuracy speed 20 times faster than classic PCR machines. A nasopharyngeal swab sample is transferred on a PCR testcard, from which the results are read by a compact reader. Pilot programs for the test began at Brussels Airport this month, with a market launch pegged for Spring 2022.

As Omicron spreads throughout Europe there’s a pressing need for new therapies that could reduce the burden on hospitals by preventing COVID-19 symptoms from escalating to a critical point. Apogenix GmbH, of Heidelberg, Germany, is pushing a potential new therapy into phase III that could be added to the armamentarium against COVID-19 with €20.7 million (US$23.4 million) government funding.

Sonic Incytes Medical Corp. collected $7.3 million in a series A fundraising round to bring its liver-focused point-of-care ultrasound solution to commercialization. Nimbus Synergies led the round with participation from Nicola Wealth, Mint Venture Partners, Consortium Medteq, Wavemaker Three-Sixty Health, Gaingels, INP Capital and several angel investors. The round was oversubscribed by 150%. The hand-held Velacur system noninvasively quantifies liver volume, stiffness and attenuation, critical factors in diagnosing and monitoring liver disease in a process that takes about five minutes and can be performed in a physician’s office. The system received FDA clearance late last year.

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 to 100,000 samples per quarter starting in the second quarter of 2022 and by scaling its protein-detection method, called nELISA, to 500 on-boarded proteins.

Med-tech financings in 2021 have reached 673 transactions valued at $48.04 billion. This compares with 718 transactions valued at $59.7 billion in 2020, indicating a drop this year of about 6% in terms of volume and nearly 20% in terms of value. Nevertheless, 2021 is the second-best year of the last five.

It’s been more than six years since the FDA’s first approval of an oncolytic virus – Amgen Inc.’s melanoma drug Imlygic (talimogene laherparepvec) – and it’s easy to argue that progress in the field has been overshadowed by success with other immunotherapy types such as checkpoint inhibitors. Though the FDA hasn’t approved any more oncolytic viruses since then, Phoenix-based Oncomyx Therapeutics Inc. is one of several companies trying to change that.