Sherlock Biosciences has arrayed a team of all-star academics and innovators in pursuit of next-gen molecular diagnostics. Among its nine co-founders are leading researchers in CRISPR, synthetic biology and genomics pulled from top institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Broad Institute and the Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
Biomérieux Inc. acquired Astute Medical Inc. last April for a scant $90 million. It markets the U.S. FDA-cleared Nephrocheck test for acute kidney injury (AKI) that it gained from the startup, which had previously been a partner under a deal dating back to 2015.
Laboratory work for intensive care unit (ICU) patients can be laborious, time-consuming and repetitive for providers, as well as painful, draining and tedious for patients who are already among the sickest in the hospital. Hayward, Calif.-based startup Optiscan Biomedical Corp. aims to enable continuous, blood-based patient monitoring in the ICU that alerts care providers when vital measures stray out of range. Patients who remain in-range on these indicators have been shown to have fewer complications, shorter hospital stays and reduced costs.
Structural Heart outperformed all the other franchises at Boston Scientific Corp. last year, besting its guidance of $475 million for that business in 2018. One of the drivers behind that growth is its Watchman franchise. The left atrial appendage closure (LAAC) device was first approved by the U.S. FDA to reduce the risk of stroke in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF) in March 2015.
Cambridge, Mass.-based startup Trinetx Inc. has raised a $40 million series D to better match patients with clinical trials and real-world evidence efforts. Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, the $500 million digital health-focused strategic fund of Merck & Co. Inc., led the financing. It boosted the total raised by the company to more than $102 million. New investors Mitsui & Co., Itochu Technology Ventures, Itochu Corp. and existing investors MPM Capital, F2 Ventures and Deerfield Management also participated in the latest round.
Cambridge, Mass.-based startup Trinetx Inc. has raised a $40 million series D to better match patients with clinical trials and real-world evidence efforts. Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, the $500 million digital-health focused strategic fund of Merck & Co. Inc., led the financing. It boosted the total raised by the company to more than $102 million. New investors Mitsui & Co., Itochu Technology Ventures, Itochu Corp. and existing investors MPM Capital, F2 Ventures and Deerfield Management also participated in the latest round.
Osiris Therapeutics Inc. is slated to be acquired by orthopedics player Smith & Nephew plc for about $660 million in cash. The deal is focused on skin substitutes – particularly allografts made of donor tissue that the London-based company expects will help to ramp up its wound management business.
