LONDON – Cmr Surgical Ltd. has again broken the record for a private financing round for a European med-tech company, raising £195 million (US$240 million) in a series C that will fund global commercialization of its portable robotic surgery system, Versius. Since the record-breaking series B in May 2018, when it raised $100 million, Cmr has set up offices in four continents and completed 30 first-in-human procedures. Currently, there are no commercial users, but the company now employs more than 400 people.

LONDON – France's Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament et des Produits de Santé (ANSM) has published draft guidelines on the cybersecurity of medical devices, becoming the first national regulator in Europe to specify what manufacturers should do to protect devices against malicious attacks.

PARIS – Six months after opening its first Biome digital innovation lab in San Francisco, the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG announces the opening of its first European digital innovation lab, located at the head office of its subsidiary in Rueil-Malmaison, France. The French hub Biome Paris boasts 250 square meters of space, allowing French or foreign-based startups to innovate and respond to specific challenges arising in the pharmaceutical sector. "It is a platform interface between ourselves as drug specialists, startups and internet giants. Biome Paris will make our treatments available to patients more quickly," Frédéric Collet, Novartis country president, France, told BioWorld MedTech.