Portable MRI-maker Hyperfine to go public as $580M company, plus more radiology vendor news
Portable MRI-maker Hyperfine is set to go public on the Nasdaq, valued as a $580 million entity, the company announced on Thursday.
It's combining up with brain vital signs measurement specialist Liminal Sciences (which shares the same founder), with both being acquired by investment firms Catalio and HealthCor. The two have formed a special-purpose acquisition company based in the Cayman Islands for purposes of the deal.
“Healthcare is rapidly evolving within and beyond the walls of the traditional hospital. We believe Hyperfine and Liminal are well-positioned to bring sophisticated MR imaging and neurological vital signs detection to a broader patient base with substantially reduced barriers to care,” said Christopher Gaulin, CEO and director of HealthCor Catalio, the newly formed acquisition company that will be renamed as Hyperfine Inc. after the deal closes. “Hyperfine’s rapid growth is a testament to its innovative technology, and we see an immense market opportunity poised for disruption.”
The combined entity will carry an enterprise value of $580 million, with $375 million cash available to drive its growth. Each organization’s board of directors has already approved the deal, while shareholders still need to weigh in. Those involved hope to close the transaction in the fourth quarter of 2021, at which time Hyperfine’s stock will begin trading under the ticker symbol HYPR.
Intelerad acquiring Heart Imaging Technologies
Radiology vendor Intelerad announced Thursday that it’s acquiring Heart Imaging Technologies, a Raleigh, North Carolina, company specializing in clinical workflow automation.
Founded in 2000, HeartIT provides web-based image management tech and services to clinics, hospitals and health systems. With the purchase, Montreal-based Intelerad said it will significantly expand its enterprise imaging offerings and cardiovascular expertise.
“The challenges healthcare providers were facing prior to the pandemic are now even more critical, and technology is key to overcoming them,” Intelerad President and CEO Mike Lipps said in statement. “By partnering with HeartIT, we’re enabling our customers to tap into advanced visualization and reporting capabilities while increasing ROI and improving patient outcomes,” he added later.
This is Intelerad’s fourth acquisition in the last 12 months, most recently obtaining Lumedx—an Oakland, California-based healthcare technology company focused on analytics and cardiovascular information systems—in February.
Philips’ fast MRI protocol
Royal Philips has helped develop a new ultra-fast MRI protocol it believes could revolutionize use of the modality in cardiology.
The Amsterdam-based tech giant said the new approach allows for full evaluation of the heart anatomy and function in minutes rather than an hour. Philips has collaborated with the Spanish National Center for Cardiovascular Research to test the tool in nonclinical use. But experts hope it could eventually help lower the cost of care while improving access and patient comfort.
“We have shown in a large group of patients that cardiac MR imaging using this new technology obtains the same parameters as the usual technique but reduces the time that a patient has to be inside the machine by more than 90 percent,” said cardiologist Borja Ibáñez, director of the Clinical Research Department at the center and leader of the work.
Rapid fire
A few more radiology vendor items of note, in rapid fashion:
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday cleared Fujifilm’s new image-enhancement technology for improving visualization during gastro, colorectal and advanced endoscopy procedures.
- On July 6, the FDA also cleared Siemens Healthineers’ new MRI scanner that combines a 0.55T field strength with deep learning and advanced image processing.
- GE Healthcare recently signed a letter of intent to collaborate with Sophia Genetics, hoping to develop new artificial intelligence-powered analytics and workflow solutions to advance cancer care.
- And finally, Infinx Healthcare and Strategic Radiology’s group purchasing program recently partnered to begin offering the former’s AI-driven prior authorization solution to its members.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.