Iain McCulley (CMgr FCMI)’s Post

Transcript

Hello and welcome to Ian's industry Insights. Hope you are all well and having a good start to the week. We jump straight into the investment segment of the update today and Helmer have completed the acquisition of Women's Health company Rovers Medical Devices or Rovers. So they are a leading manufacturer of sample collection devices for the prevention and diagnosis of cervical cancer. So we know some of the. Awful statistics around cervical cancer. Cervical cancer claims a woman's life every two minutes. It's the fourth most common cancer among women globally. So we are seeing and rightly so and pleased to see more and more eyes I think on Women's Health at the moment and this is fantastic to see that Helmer Group are kind of investing into this space. They've mentioned they want to contribute to the prevention of cancer on a global scale, this mission. Strongly aligns to helmers when it comes to improving quality of care for patients. So it has to be said, as I say, I'm really, really delighted to, to see this investment. Mark Ronchetti, the group CEO of Halma, said that Rovers will broaden the range of markets we serve in Women's Health and further strengthen our healthcare sectors, positioning cancer diagnostics products. So excited about the opportunities, he says. And supporting the World Health Organization strategy to accelerate the early detection of cervical cancer. OK. Um, this financial year HAMMER spent 285,000,000 on acquisitions across all three sectors and multiple geographies. So yeah, they're, they're obviously having an aggressive start to the year, but very, very pleasing to see that. And then we have vaginosis that's raised 33 million in Series D funding rounds. So excuse me, the medical device company specializes in the treatment of swallowing disorders and. The money will fund its US and European growth so so Manchester based organization and it's the funding round sorry has been led by EQT Life sciences and Co led by sector with new investments, new investors sorry northern gritstone British patient capital and affiliation. So essentially patients with swallowing dysfunction are unable to safely or effectively eat, drink or manage their own. Saliva and this can kind of lead to life threatening complications including pneumonia and they have developed a cutting edge therapy which targets and restores the neurological components of swallowing coordination and essentially they're able to work on those. I guess that's been disrupted due to brain injury or because of prolonged mechanical ventilation and it's really exciting to see it will support. Clinical trials, regulatory activities as well as kind of further R&D of their pipeline products, but very, very exciting to see this. Duncan Johnson, CEO of Northam Gritstone, says that they are really pleased to be invested in kind of talking about the relief to patients and the IP originally from the University of of Manchester. So for Genesis, CEO Reinhard Crickle said their novel and proven therapy can help millions of patients every year who suffer from swallowing. Disorders. So congratulations to Raynard and the team look forward to seeing how they put that investment to good use. Air Switch have secured 1.2 million from GMC Life Sciences Fund. So I Switch is another UK based healthcare innovation company and the fund has been managed by Protura Ventures which is known for providing more than money to businesses and investing early stage business businesses and SME's to boost life science innovation. So it's really, really exciting to see this. And in ear biometric sensor technology and it aims to equip patients and healthcare providers with credible real World Health data, so I'm sure they're going to put this to great use, Nick Gomperts, the founder and CEO of Ear Switch, said. They are thrilled to have Pretura Ventures as partners in our mission to transform how we monitor and diagnose health. And I think it seems to be a really great partnership, Samsing Land, who's head of the GMC life. Finances Fund said that they come across many exciting early stage businesses in life sciences, but Ear Switch really impressed them with their fascinating innovation in the promotion of racially inclusive healthcare. So great to see this kind of ear switch being noticed and again look forward to seeing how they utilize that. Sticking in the UK, the Chancellor is this year as this week sorry, announced a package including life science and manufacturing R&D investment. So the spring budget is happening in the UK this week and Jeremy Hunt has basically said there's going to be an investment package in the UK's life science and manufacturing sectors. So it's going to be interesting to see how this actually. Comes to fruition and the impact it could make, but could be a significant step for the UK life science sector. No Labs have announced that it entered into a funding agreement for an investment worth up to $12 million. So No Labs are a Seattle based company. They UH work towards bringing non invasive continuous glucose monitoring technology and are looking to bring that to market and it's really going to be another substantial development within the kind of diabetes world in particular. So again really great to see, let's see how they partner with the Lim partners and let's see what they can do with the additional investment and again hopefully make even more impact. To to those that need it, few FDA approvals to touch on. So the FDA have approved Boston Scientifics agent drug coated balloon. So very, very pleasing news for Boston. They are obviously already a market leader but they really want to kind of drive this home with more than 100,000 patients treated globally to date in both clinical and commercial settings. We are very pleased to introduce this proven therapy as the first drug coated coronary balloon in the US. With Lance Bates. So again could be really substantial for Boston Scientific, but also importantly really important to those patients that are gonna need this and can benefit from this. Another Goliath, Medtronic has won FDA clearance for its bone tumor ablation tech. So again, they've designed an osteo called 2.0 to treat painful bone. I can never pronounce metastases and banine bone tumors, So the minimum minimally invasive procedure uses probes deliver radiofrequency energy that heats and destroys tumors. So again, something that sounds wicked sounds like it can really make such a difference. And David Carr, the VP and GM of pain interventions within the neurology neuromodulation business at Medtronic says the osteocytes are welcome upgrade to our interventional portfolio and. Love cements our status as offering the most innovative and comprehensive pain management portfolio in the industry. So Congrats to everyone over at Medtronic and look forward to seeing that making its way to patients up and down the US and hopefully globally as well. Baxter are in talks to sell the their Kidney care business. We expect to see that separation later this year. So it's shared the update that it plans to separate. Keeping her business and it looks at us so instead of a spinoff, so we did see it 2023 Baxter announced plans to spin its Renal Care and Acute Therapies units into an independent publicly traded company. It said at the time that it expects the company to standalone S 12 to 18 months and in July Baxter pick Vantiv as the name of the proposed business. At the time, Backstreet expected Vantiv to launch as an independent publicly traded company. By July 2024 earlier, it maintains the expectation for a completed separation in the second-half of 2024. However, the separation may be different than initially suggested. So it's going to be interesting to see how this lands and then hopefully we will see, yeah, what can be made of the Kidney Care business. So look forward to seeing how that plays out, a few people changes or announcements. Integra Life Sciences CEO Jan Davitt is to retire, so he is going to stay in place until they find a successor, which is expected to be by the end of 2024. Stuart Essig, Integra's current chairman and former CEO at the company, was named executive chairman on Wednesday and tasked with leading this transition. And it's going to be a really interesting phase for for Integra Life Sciences. And you see, they did note it was Yang's personal. Decision to retire and return to Europe follows following a a leadership tenure marked by significant contributions to the company. So I'm gonna be very, very interesting to see who takes on this role and as I say an interesting new phase for Integra Life Sciences, so I'll keep keep a keen eye on that one Elsewhere and Phillips have named strikers Charlotte Hanneman as their CFO, so Abhijit is going to who took over? Your effort in 2015 has actually been with the company for 37 years, is going to step down in October and Charlotte Hanneman is going to step in. She was Controller and Head of Financial Planning and Analysis at Striker, seems like a fantastic hire for Phillips. Roy Jacobs certainly thinks so in his commented on the kind of exciting time. And I think as I say, I'm sure Charlotte will make a huge impact there as well. So that's all for this week. Thank you all for tuning in. Hope you have a fantastic week ahead and keep on making a difference. Thank you.