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Venture investments in biopharmaceuticals and medical technology continue their rebound in 2024 during the third quarter, according to a new report from JP Morgan. Biopharmaceutical startups raised $6.6 billion in venture investments in that quarter, and while that’s down slightly from Q3 2023, deals are larger so far than in 2023. The investment bank estimates that total venture investments in biopharmaceuticals will amount to approximately $27.7 billion. for the year, surpassing last year’s $23.5 billion and reversing the decline in value since 2021. One point of attention, however, is that the total deal volume has decreased, but the round sizes have increased.
On the medical side, there was a total of $5.1 billion in venture investments in the sector last quarter. Investments in Medtech have reached $16.1 billion so far in 2024 and JP Morgan analysts expect total investments to reach $21.5 billion this year, surpassing last year’s $16.9 billion by almost 30%. The size of checks for medical technology investments remained on the small side, with most rounds being less than $50 million.
This startup has a new way to quit smoking. Will this be the one that works?
illustration by Cecilia Runxi Zhang for Forbes; Photos by Qnovia; Peter Dazeley/Getty Images
Six years ago, Mario Danek started tinkering with a device to help cigarette smokers quit in a Santa Monica mansion. After purchasing pharmaceutical-grade nebulizers, syringes, gaskets, battery packs, electrical firmware, and nicotine liquid, Danek—who had recently sold his stake in a vaporizer company—took everything apart and cobbled together a functional prototype.
It wasn’t pretty, but it worked. The first device had a ‘Frankenstein look’, says 39-year-old Danek. “I used a syringe as a liquid vessel and there were a lot of external wires because I’m not good at soldering.”
Danek brought the prototype to Gregg Smith, founder of Evolution Venture Capital in New York, and he was so intrigued that he presented Danek with a check for $500,000 along with San Francisco-based hedge fund Poseidon – and Qnovia was born.
The Virginia-based company has since raised $35 million (from investors including Blue Ledge Capital, DG Ventures and Vice Ventures) at an estimated valuation of $350 million. Now Qnovia hopes to become the newest player in the $3 billion (global annual revenue) market for nicotine replacement therapies, but can’t start selling its device in the US (or booking revenue) until it gets Food and Drug Administration approval .
Qnovia was approved by the regulator in October for an experimental use of a new drug and plans to start human clinical trials before the end of the year. If approved by the FDA, it will become the first federally approved prescription smoking cessation treatment on the market in nearly two decades.
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Pipeline and deal updates
Pain management: The FDA has done that approved Roxybondan oxycodone pill from Protega Pharmaceuticals that is designed to prevent crushing, cutting, or other forms of manipulation to reduce the risk of abuse.
Sustainability: Antheia, which uses fermentation to manufacture drug ingredients normally produced in agriculture, announced this first commercial delivery this week. (Read our company profile here.)
Neuroscience: Abvie will acquire Alaida Therapeutics, a biotech company focused on diseases of the central nervous system, has closed a $1.4 billion deal.
Molecular glue breakers: Monte Rosa therapies signed a cooperation agreement with Novartis to advance the development of its molecular breakdown products for immune-mediated diseases. Under the terms of the agreement, Novartis will make an upfront payment of $150 million to Monte Rosa, plus up to $2.1 billion in milestone payments plus royalties.
Kidney transplants: Paragonix Technologies received FDA approval for its KidneyVault system, which helps protect and preserve kidneys while they are in transit.
Heart disease: Innoventric, which is developing a prosthesis to treat a heart condition called tricuspid regurgitation, has announced that it raised a $28.5 million Series B round led by RA Capital Management.
Fibrosis: Agomab, which is developing treatments for patients with various types of fibrosis, has announced that it has a $89 million Series D round.
UTIs: The FDA has approved Iterium Therapeutics’ drug Orlynvah for treating certain types of urinary tract infections.
This startup is expanding the egg donation market beyond just students
Illustration by Alex Castro for Forbes
“The best time to freeze your eggs is when you’re young and can least afford to pay for it,” says Lauren Makler, founder and CEO of Cofertility, a Los Angeles startup with a new model that uses three weak addresses issues in the fertility sector: which plays a role in approximately 100,000 (2.5%) births in the US per year. The first two problems, as she suggests, are timing and cost: women traditionally do not seek expensive fertility services until they have tried unsuccessfully to conceive and are well into their 30s. By then, each cycle of egg retrieval yields less. eggs healthy enough to use. That’s why more and more women who want children are – eventually – freezing their eggs years in advance. But the retrieval procedure and the hormones it requires can cost $10,000 or more, plus another $500 or $1,000 a year to store frozen eggs, making it unaffordable for most young women — especially when few employers can afford the cost of taking on egg freezing before a woman becomes infertile. .
The third problem addressed in Cofertility’s new model: the supply of donor eggs. Some women – including those who have become infertile due to cancer or other medical conditions – need donor eggs. For women age 40 or older, using a donor dramatically increases the chance that an implanted embryo will lead to a baby, tripling by age 45, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest annual report on assisted living. reproductive technology. Cofertility addresses all these problems by giving young women the option to freeze their eggs and store them for free for ten years if they agree to donate half of the eggs recovered. “All we’re saying is, let’s leave out the cash compensation part and allow this woman to keep half of the eggs for her own future,” Makler says.
Read more here.
Other healthcare news
Humana reports a profit of $480 million amid rising Medicare costs and enrollment
How health officials investigate foodborne outbreaks like Quarter Pounders E. Coli
Healthcare coordination continues to lose money even as Medicare enrollment increases
Eli Lilly Stock Rebounds Against Disappointing Earnings and Rising Sales
Salad packets linked to possibly infected poultry: Here are all the recent Listeria alerts
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What else we read
More men are getting vasectomies since Roe was overturned (Scientific American)
Emails reveal how health departments are struggling to track human cases of bird flu (KFF).