TORONTO – Ambu Inc. has won Health Canada clearance for a flexible, single-use cystoscope for diagnosing, managing, and treating lower urinary disorders such as incontinence and bladder cancer. The disposable Ascope 4 Cysto system goes head-to-head with reusable urology scopes that must be reprocessed after each use, diminishing image quality and mechanical performance, said Jens Kemp, Ambu’s vice president of marketing for North America.
Juno Diagnostics Inc. raised $25 million in a series A financing led by Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund. The company has earmarked the funds to support clinical validation studies of the company’s noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) solutions. The proceeds will also go toward product development and commercial launch of its NIPT products.
HONG KONG – Ultrasight Ltd. has closed a $13 million series B funding round, and is a step closer to entering the clinic in the U.S. with its cardiac ultrasound software. With the funds in hand, Rehovot, Israel-based Ultrasight aims to start clinical trials in the U.S. for its artificial intelligence (AI)-guided software for cardiac ultrasound.
More than 150 U.S. patents could be at stake if the World Trade Organization (WTO) were to adopt an intellectual property waiver as originally proposed by India and South Africa.
Egnite Inc. emerged from stealth mode in February 2021 with the goal of combining data analytics and digital health technology to illuminate and solve persistent issues in the diagnosis and treatment of structural heart disease. Three months later, it has added artificial intelligence (AI) to its flagship solution, Cardiocare, to drive better diagnosis of aortic stenosis and help physicians predict patient outcomes.
Caris Life Sciences Inc. raised $830 million in a capital growth round led by Sixth Street Partners, the latest show of private investors’ zeal for backing precision medicine ventures. The infusion, which includes $235 million in equity financing, will be used for continued commercial expansion and to advance its liquid biopsy platform. T.R. Price Associates Inc., Silver Lake, Fidelity Management & Research Co. LLC were significant contributors in the round.
PERTH, Australia – Australia’s budget theme for the 2021 to 2022 fiscal year is rebuilding the economy following COVID-19, and med-tech and biotech leaders were praising some of the new measures.
PERTH, Australia – Imagion Biosystems Ltd. has entered a collaborative research program with Patrys Ltd. to combine their technologies to target brain tumor imaging and diagnosis.
The discovery of synthetic lethality between BRCA mutations and PARP inhibitors ranks has led to major advances in the treatment of BRCA-mutated cancers. Mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 can leave cells with a deficiency in homologous repair (HR). And that deficiency can make them vulnerable to PARP inhibitors, which block alternate DNA repair pathways, as well as platinum-based treatment, which induces DNA mutations that BRCA-deficient cells are unable to cope with.
PERTH, Australia – The FDA granted Oncores Medical Pty. Ltd. breakthrough device designation for its quantitative micro-elastography (QME) imaging system. The hand-held imaging tool helps surgeons differentiate between cancerous and healthy tissue in real time at the point of surgery, and it could substantially improve outcomes in breast-conserving surgery (BCS) and reduce repeat operations for women with breast cancer.