Shares of Psivida Corp., of Watertown, Mass., (NASDAQ:PSDV) shot up to a five-year high on above-average trading volume Tuesday after the company reported positive top-line results from its first phase III trial evaluating Medidur to treat chronic noninfectious uveitis affecting the posterior of the eye (posterior uveitis).
With an eye on both med tech and biopharmaceuticals, Orbimed Advisors LLC (New York) hauled in $950 million for its sixth fund. The cash is expected to support roughly 30 companies across all stages and sectors of the health care industry, with individual deals ranging from $10 million to $75 million.
The past year was marked with wide swings in the public market, influenced by a range of global and domestic factors, but according to Cohnreznick LLP (New York), health care and life sciences continue to represent the most active IPO sector. The firm, which provides accounting, tax and advisory services to middle market companies with market caps between $10 million and $2 billion post-IPO, said life sciences represented 47 percent of all middle market IPOs in 2015, with 63 IPOs in the industry as of Nov. 30.
A study designed to evaluate a new Burst mode in some St. Jude Medical Inc. (St. Paul, Minn.) spinal cord stimulation (SCS) devices compared to traditional tonic stimulation has shown a strong patient preference for the intermittent "burst" pulses for chronic pain. St. Jude said the SUNBURST study, which it launched about two years ago, demonstrated that Burst stimulation is superior to traditional tonic stimulation when used to relieve chronic pain.