Biofourmis Acquires Wearable Biosensor Firm Biovotion and Enters Commercialization Agreement with Novartis

VCBeat (WeChat ID:vcbeat) According to foreign media, local time2019Year11Month18Day, Global Leader in Digital TherapeuticsBiofourmisAnnounces Acquisition of Zurich-Based Wearable Biosensor CompanyBiovotion. The transaction consists of cash and equity, with specific financial details yet to be disclosed.

This acquisition includes all of Biovotion’s assets, including the market-leading Everion® biosensor and more than 60 global patents covering most existing wearable and sensor technologies for the arm or hand. The acquisition of Biovotion enables Biofourmis to offer proprietary clinical-grade wearables, enhancing its Biovitals® ecosystem.

The flagship product in Biovotion’s wearable device portfolio is the clinical-grade Everion® device, a multi-sensor platform worn on the arm that enables real-time measurement of 22 parameters. The collected physiological data can include heart rate, heart beat intervals, respiratory rate, blood oxygen saturation, skin temperature, and activity logs (rest/activity cycles)—all acquired non-invasively. Everion® also captures other clinical and non-clinical parameters, such as pulse waveforms, movement intensity and stride length, energy expenditure, sleep quality, and heart rate variability. Building on Biovotion’s current market-leading wearable technology, the next-generation Everion® device is already under development and will be capable of capturing additional critical parameters, including continuous blood pressure trends.

Biofourmis is a rapidly growing global leader in digital therapeutics, dedicated to discovering, developing, and delivering clinically validated, software-based therapies. These solutions aim to improve patient outcomes, provide clinicians with advanced tools for personalized care, demonstrate the value of pharmacological treatments, and offer technologies that may complement medication regimens. Biofourmis has established Biovitals®, a highly sophisticated, AI-driven personalized health analytics platform capable of predicting clinical deterioration before major adverse events occur. Biovitals® serves as the cornerstone of Biofourmis’ digital therapeutic product portfolio, spanning multiple therapeutic areas, including heart failure, oncology, acute coronary syndrome, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and chronic pain.

Kuldeep Singh Rajput, CEO and Founder of Biofourmis, stated, “For many years, Biovotion has been a trusted partner, as we have fully leveraged each other’s technologies across clinical, commercial, and research applications. We are delighted to integrate Everion® into the Biovitals® ecosystem, which will continue to help our customers achieve their goals, such as demonstrating the value of pharmacological therapies, managing chronic diseases, predicting and preventing adverse events, improving clinical outcomes, and ultimately reducing healthcare costs.”

Dr. Markus Christen, Chairman and CEO of Biovotion, stated, “Our relationship with Biofourmis is mutually beneficial and continues to expand in both scope and depth, making the merger highly strategic for both companies. As part of Biofourmis, we will accelerate the development of our innovative platform for collecting patient vital sign data. While providers, healthcare organizations, and pharmaceutical companies will certainly benefit from our synergies, more importantly, this acquisition will help more patients worldwide achieve better treatment outcomes, which is the most rewarding aspect.”

As the acquisition news was announced, Biofourmis revealed that it is collaborating with pharmaceutical giant Novartis to commercially launch a platform that uses predictive analytics to manage heart failure in patients. The technology will leverage Biofourmis’ AI capabilities and the Everion® sensors acquired through this transaction. Specifically, it will be offered as a product to help predict and analyze medication therapy. The two companies will initially roll out the solution in the Asian market, with plans to expand into the United States and other regions.

On October 20, pharmaceutical giant Novartis severed its business ties with Pear Therapeutics. Sandoz, a subsidiary of Novartis, announced that it would return the full commercialization rights for the digital prescription therapies ReSET and ReSET-O to Pear Therapeutics. This new agreement provides reassurance that Novartis will not completely halt its digital commercialization activities in the future.

This news also gave the public greater insight into Biofourmis’ future strategic direction. In its statement, the company indicated that Biofourmis plans to conduct a Series C financing round before 2021 and aims to achieve a valuation of $1 billion.

(Compiled by Xiong Hui)