Roughly two and half years after it picked up Cynosure, Hologic Inc., of Marlborough, Mass., has reported its intention to sell it to private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) for a total purchase price of $205 million in cash, subject to certain closing adjustments. The company expects net cash proceeds of about $138 million. CD&R Partner Derek Strum expressed enthusiasm about the deal, noting that his firm expects “to continue to invest behind the company's strong brand and large global installed base to accelerate growth via expanded sales & marketing efforts and bring new products and technologies to market[.]”
Optina Diagnostics, of Montreal, and the Wagner Macula & Retina Center are collaborating on a clinical study using Optina's Retinal Deep Phenotyping (RDP) platform to screen for Alzheimer's disease. The program will put the platform into nine community eye clinics in Virginia and North Carolina.
San Clemente, Calif.-based ICU Medical Inc. has acquired Minneapolis-based Pursuit Vascular Inc. for $75 million and an additional, undisclosed earn-out payment that would be due in 2021. In the deal, it gains the Clearguard HD Antimicrobial Barrier Cap, which is the only U.S.-marketed device that's been shown to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infections in hemodialysis patients.
Tech giant Google LLC is taking aim at the Apple Watch with its plan to acquire wearables pioneer Fitbit Inc., of San Francisco, for $2.1 billion, or $7.35 per share, in an all-cash transaction expected to close sometime next year.
Stryker Corp. is making another big buy, this time picking up Wright Medical Group NV, of Amsterdam, for a total enterprise value of about $5.4 billion. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2020, and its value exceeds Stryker's previous large deal – that of Leesburg, Va.-based K2m Group Holdings Inc. in 2018 for $1.4 billion.
HONG KONG – South Korean AI-based biotech Azoth Bio Inc., of Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do, and biopharmaceutical venture Wellmarker Bio Co. Ltd., based in Seoul, have signed a memorandum of understanding for cancer drug R&D and commercialization. Under the agreement, the two entities will use Azoth's AI-powered platform to develop Wellmarker's cancer treatment candidates.
HONG KONG – South Korea's major pharmaceutical company GC Pharma Corp., based in Yong-in, Gyeonggi-do, and the Cambridge, Mass.-based U.S. biotech Vaxess Technologies Inc., have partnered to globally commercialize a flu vaccine patch based on Vaxess' Mimix Smart Release Patch technology. The patch is designed to deliver medicines and vaccines through silk microneedles that dissolve at a precise rate.
Spinal cord stimulation company Gtx Medical BV, of Eindhoven, Netherlands, is merging with San Juan Capistrano, Calif.-based Neurorecovery Technologies Inc. in a move aimed at accelerating access to new therapies for spinal cord injury on both sides of the Atlantic. The combined company, which will be known as Gtx Medical BV, is developing both implantable and transcutaneous technologies for people living with paralysis. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
CLEVELAND – Monday featured a big announcement during the 2019 Medical Innovation Summit, with the Cleveland Clinic and American Well revealing that they are partnering to create a joint venture (JV) focused on telehealth. The venture, dubbed The Clinic for now, was conceived "in order to achieve our joint vision and our ambitions in how to revise the delivery of care and to be at the forefront of it," said Semih Sen, chief business development officer, Cleveland Clinic, as part of a keynote delivered by Roy Schoenberg, president and CEO of Boston-based American Well.
PERTH, Australia – Australia's Admedus Ltd. has sold its Cardiocel and Vascucel patch business to U.S-based LeMaitre Vascular for up to AU$36.2 million (US$24.5 million), to include an AU$22.8 million up-front cash payment.