Hologic acquires rival breast care company for $310M, Subtle Medical raises $50M, plus more vendor news
Hologic Inc. has finalized its acquisition of a rival breast care company for $310 million, the Marlborough, Massachusetts, mammography system-maker announced Thursday.
Endomagnetics Ltd. is a developer of breast surgery localization and lymphatic tracing technologies. Based in Cambridge, U.K., the private company generated about $35 million in revenue last year.
“With our shared commitment to advancing women’s health globally, we are excited to improve outcomes for patients and, together with our customers, redefine the standard of care for breast cancer intervention,” Erik Anderson, president of Breast and Skeletal Health Solutions at publicly traded Hologic, said in a July 25 announcement.
Products joining the Hologic brand include the Magseed marker for magnetic tissue localization before surgery. Endomag also offers the Magtrace lymphatic tracing injectable for breast cancer staging and the Sentimag platform, which supports both localization and lymphatic tracing. Leaders said they hope these new offerings will provide radiologists and breast surgeons with “an expanded range of options and enhanced user experience.”
Subtle Medical pushes fundraising total to $50M
Subtle Medical Inc. has pushed its fundraising total to over $50 million, the Menlo Park, California, radiology AI vendor announced Wednesday.
Investors include Samsung’s venture capital arm, Ignite Innovation, and the Fusion Fund. Subtle Medical most recently collected $10 million, completing its Series B financing round totaling $30 million.
Co-founded in 2017 by Stanford University professor of radiology Greg Zaharchuk, MD, Subtle Medical leverages AI to accelerate the data acquisition of MRI, PET, CT and SPECT exams. Leaders said they plan to use the money to fast-track U.S. and global sales initiatives and speed up the launch of new products.
"With tens of millions of dollars’ worth of contracts secured from top radiology providers worldwide, Subtle Medical is poised to capture a significant market share of the $35 billion AI-powered radiology market," Sean Seoho Lee, executive director at Ignite Innovation, said in a July 24 announcement. "Focusing on the image acquisition stage of radiology, rather than the crowded downstream diagnostics market, the company has established itself as a clear category leader.”
Subtle Medical currently serves more than 600 sites globally and 2.5 million patients annually worldwide, sustaining a 2x year-over-year growth rate. The company holds exclusive rights to technology developed at Stanford in 2016, now boasting 30-plus global patents. It’s also published over 20 peer-reviewed articles and achieved seven FDA clearances, according to the announcement.
Co-founder and CEO Enhao Gong, PhD, an electrical engineer from Stanford, and colleagues said they have seen significant growth in China and Southeast Asia, with plans to enter Korea and Japan later this year. They’ve also inked deals with device manufacturers such as Siemens Healthineers and drugmakers including Bayer and Bracco. SubtleMR (improving the quality of accelerated MRI protocols) and SubtlePET (ditto for positron emission tomography) are among its flagship products.
“The new funding and product line expansion distinguish us from any competitors, allowing us to continue leading and building a new era of AI-powered imaging acquisition and workflow solutions,” Gong said in the announcement.
Medicare assigns payment for prostate cancer mapping
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has assigned a national payment rate for prostate cancer mapping technology, vendor Avenda Health said Thursday.
Effective July 1, the American Medical Association also implemented a Category III code for reimbursement of services related to the Culver City, California, firm’s Unfold AI tool. The code is 0898T, enabling physicians to bill for prostate cancer estimation maps derived from analysis of image-guided fusion biopsy and pathology.
“Receiving the new CPT code and national payment rate for Unfold AI is an important development in making advanced personalized prostate cancer care accessible to more patients," Avenda Health Chief Operating Officer Brit Berry-Pusey, PhD, said in an announcement. "This recognition by the AMA and CMS validates the transformative potential of our technology in improving diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes."
The AMA code also covers visualization and determination of tumor margins and interpretation/reporting by radiologists and other physicians. Medicare payment is determined by the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System, which assigns procedures to the appropriate Ambulatory Payment Classification, Avenda Health noted. Reimbursement for physician services and from commercial payers, meanwhile, will depend on individual contracts and geographic variation.
“These designations underscore the growing recognition of AI technology in enhancing prostate cancer care,” Avenda said in its announcement.
Rapid fire
A few more radiology vendor news items of note, in brief:
- GE HealthCare and Amazon Web Services are working together to develop foundation models and generative AI applications aimed at helping radiologists improve diagnostics, the two said Thursday.
- Cloud solutions provider AbbaDox has formed a strategic relationship with Merge Healthcare Solutions to deliver an “enhanced suite of radiology workflow solutions.”
- Navigantis Inc. has closed a $12 million Series A financing round led by Puma Venture Capital. The company is developing an interventional robotic platform for a wide range of neurovascular procedures and indications, including acute ischemic stroke.
- Imaging AI firm Brainomix presented new data on its technology at the Society of Neurointerventional Surgery's Annual Meeting.
- And finally, Positron Corporation recently released a new PET-CT 3D 64-slice scanner.
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.