HEALTH TECHNOLOGY
Stryker | January 07, 2022
Strykerannounced today a definitive merger agreement to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock of Vocera Communications, Inc.for $79.25 per share, or a total equity value of approximately $2.97 billion and a total enterprise value of approximately $3.09 billion (including convertible notes). Vocera, which was founded in 2000, has emerged as a leading platform in the digital care coordination and communication category. The importance of this growing segment has continued to expand throughout the pandemic as it aims to reduce cognitive overload for caregivers and enables them to deliver the best patient care possible.
Vocera brings a highly complementary and innovative portfolio to Stryker’s Medical division that will address the increasing need for hospitals to connect caregivers and disparate data-generating medical devices, which will help drive efficiencies and improve safety and outcomes. Vocera’s highly developed software competency, unique and innovative hardware solutions, and the ability to securely enable remote communication between patients and their families, complements Stryker's Advanced Digital Healthcare offerings. The combined business will further advance Stryker’s focus on preventing adverse events throughout the continuum of care.
“This acquisition underscores our commitment and focus on our customer. Vocera will help Stryker significantly accelerate our digital aspirations to improve the lives of caregivers and patients.”
Kevin Lobo, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Stryker
“Today’s milestone represents an exciting opportunity for Vocera given the clear alignment of mission, goals and culture between our two organizations and our ability to drive even greater economic and clinical value for our customers,” said Brent Lang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Vocera.
Under the terms of the merger agreement, Stryker will commence a tender offer for all outstanding shares of common stock of Vocera for $79.25 per share in cash. The boards of directors of both Stryker and Vocera have unanimously approved the transaction. The closing of the transaction is subject to expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, completion of the tender offer and other customary closing conditions.
The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022 and is expected to have a neutral impact to net earnings per diluted share in 2022.
About Stryker
Stryker is one of the world’s leading medical technology companies and, together with its customers, is driven to make healthcare better. The company offers innovative products and services in Orthopaedics, Medical and Surgical, and Neurotechnology and Spine that help improve patient and hospital outcomes.
About Vocera
The mission of Vocera Communications, Inc. is to improve the lives of healthcare professionals, patients, and families. Founded in 2000, Vocera provides clinical communication and workflow solutions that help protect and connect team members, increase operational efficiency, enhance quality of care and safety, and humanize the healthcare experience. More than 2,300 facilities worldwide, including nearly 1,900 hospitals and healthcare facilities, have selected Vocera solutions to enable their workforce to communicate and collaborate with co-workers and engage with patients and families. Mobile workers can choose the right device for their role or task, including smartphones or one of the company’s wearable communication devices, and use voice commands to easily reach people by name, role, or group. The hands-free Vocera Smartbadge was named to TIME’s list of the 100 Best Inventions of 2020. Vocera solutions can integrate with more than 150 clinical and operational systems, including electronic health records, nurse call systems, ventilators, physiological monitors, and more. In addition to healthcare, Vocera solutions are found in aged care facilities, veterinary hospitals, schools, luxury hotels, retail stores, power facilities, and more.
Read More
HEALTH TECHNOLOGY
Texas Children Hospital | December 29, 2021
Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine announced today that CORBEVAX™, a protein sub-unit COVID-19 Vaccine, whose technology was created and engineered at its Center for Vaccine Development (CVD), has received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) approval from the Drugs Controller General ofIndia(DCGI)to launch inIndiawith other underserved countries to follow.
Dubbed "The World's COVID-19 Vaccine", it uses a traditional recombinant protein-based technology that will enable its production at large scales making it widely accessible to inoculate the global population. The initial construct and production process of the vaccine antigen was developed at Texas Children's Hospital CVD, led by co-directors Drs. Maria Elena Bottazzi and Peter Hotez and in-licensed from BCM Ventures, Baylor College of Medicine's integrated commercialization team, to Hyderabad-based vaccine and pharmaceutical company Biological E. Limited (BE).
CORBEVAX™ after completing two Phase III clinical trials involving more than 3000 subjects was found to be safe, well tolerated and immunogenic:
CORBEVAX™ demonstrated superior immune response in comparison with COVISHIELD™ vaccine when assessed for Neutralizing Antibody (nAb) Geometric Mean Titers (GMT) against the Ancestral-Wuhan strain and the globally dominant Delta variant. CORBEVAX™ vaccination also generated significant Th1 skewed cellular immune response.
CORBEVAX™ nAb GMT against Ancestral-Wuhan strain is indicative of vaccine effectiveness of >90% for prevention of symptomatic infections based on the Correlates of Protection assessment performed during Moderna and Astra-Zeneca vaccine Phase III studies.
CORBEVAX™ nAb GMT against the Delta strain indicates a vaccine effectiveness of >80 percent for the prevention of symptomatic infections based on published studies.
While none of the subjects who took CORBEVAX™ or COVISHIELD™ had serious adverse events, CORBEVAX™ had 50 percent fewer adverse events than COVISHIELD™.
In the continuous monitoring of phase II studies, CORBEVAX™ showed high persistence of immune response as indicated by <30% drop in nAb GMT till 6 months second dose as compared to >80% drop observed with majority of the vaccines.
"Protein-based vaccines have been widely used to prevent many other diseases, have proven safety records, and use economies of scale to achieve low-cost scalability across the world," said Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi, Professor and Associate Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor and Co-Director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. "Our decade-long studies advancing coronavirus vaccine prototypes has led to the creation of this vaccine, which will fill the access gap created by the more expensive, newer vaccine technologies and that today are still not able to be quickly scaled for global production."
The need for safe, streamlined, low-cost vaccines for middle- to low-income countries is central to the world's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Without widespread vaccination of populations in the Global South, additional virus variants will arise, hindering the progress achieved by currently available vaccines in the United States and other Western countries.
"This announcement is an important first step in vaccinating the world and halting the pandemic. Our vaccine technology offers a path to address an unfolding humanitarian crisis, namely the vulnerability the low- and middle-income countries face against the delta variant," said Dr. Peter Hotez, Professor and Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor and Co-Director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. "Widespread and global vaccination with our Texas Children's-Baylor-BE vaccine would also forestall the emergence of new variants. We have previously missed that opportunity for the alpha and delta variant. Now is our chance to prevent a new global wave from what might follow."
"Over the years, we have worked to make quality vaccines and pharmaceutical products accessible to families around the world. With this as our backdrop, we resolved to develop an affordable and effective COVID-19 vaccine. It has now become a reality. We deeply appreciate Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, Baylor, CEPI, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the government of India for their continuous support and cooperation during this journey. The combined efforts & unceasing support demonstrate that we can collectively overcome any challenge".
Mahima Datla, Managing Director, Biological E. Limited
ABOUT TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
Texas Children's Hospital, a not-for-profit health care organization, is committed to creating a healthier future for children and women throughout the global community by leading in patient care, education and research. Consistently ranked as the best children's hospital in Texas, and among the top in the nation, Texas Children's has garnered widespread recognition for its expertise and breakthroughs in pediatric and women's health. The hospital includes the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute; the Feigin Tower for pediatric research; Texas Children's Pavilion for Women, a comprehensive obstetrics/gynecology facility focusing on high-risk births; Texas Children's Hospital West Campus, a community hospital in suburban West Houston; and Texas Children's Hospital The Woodlands, the first hospital devoted to children's care for communities north of Houston. The organization also created Texas Children's HealthPlan, the nation's first HMO for children; has the largest pediatric primary care network in the country, Texas Children's Pediatrics; Texas Children's Urgent Care clinics that specialize in after-hours care tailored specifically for children; and a global health program that's channeling care to children and women all over the world. Texas Children's Global Health program leads efforts that advance health care equity through innovative collaboration in care, education and research for underserved populations globally. Texas Children's Hospital is affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine.
ABOUT TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL CENTER FOR VACCINE DEVELOPMENT
Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development is one of the leading vaccine development centers in the world. Established in Washington DC as the Sabin Vaccine Institute Product Development Partnership (PDP) in the year 2000 and after relocating to the Texas Medical Center in 2011, it rebranded as Texas Children's Center for Vaccine Development. For the past two decades it has acquired an international reputation as a non-profit PDP, advancing vaccines for poverty-related neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and emerging infectious diseases of pandemic importance. In addition, it builds and strengthens capacity for vaccine development locally and with foreign nations and leads global efforts to guide and influence vaccine policy and advocacy through "vaccine diplomacy" as an international bridge for peace and vaccine development capacity.
ABOUT BCM VENTURES
Baylor College of Medicine Ventures is the commercial engine of the health sciences university, created to support the translation of academic knowledge and intellectual assets for the benefit of society. We do this by engaging university innovators, entrepreneurs and industry to fully develop ideas along their best commercial path. We foster a culture of commercialization and engage with industry to identify market opportunities for collaborative ventures.
ABOUT BIOLOGICAL E. LIMITED
Biological E. Limited (BE), a Hyderabad-based Pharmaceuticals & Biologics Company founded in 1953, is the first private sector biological products company in India and the first pharmaceutical company in Southern India. BE develops, manufactures and supplies vaccines and therapeutics. BE supplies its vaccines to over 100 countries and its therapeutic products are sold in India and the USA. BE currently has 8 WHO-prequalified vaccines in its portfolio. In recent years, BE has embarked on new initiatives for organisational expansion such as developing generic injectable products for the regulated markets, exploring synthetic biology and metabolic engineering as a means to manufacture APIs sustainably and developing novel vaccines for the global market.
Read More
DIGITAL HEALTHCARE
Rainbow Health | December 20, 2021
Rainbow Health today announced an extension of its platform Rainbow Care™ to encompass increased features for providers and health systems that offer hospital-at-home programs. The extended services will offer superior care coordination via Rainbow Health's platform and have been designed to address the logistical challenges that hospital-at-home programs are facing, while keeping an overall goal of supporting the operationalization and scalability of the programs.
Hospital-at-home programs are experiencing tremendous growth. In April 2021, there were around 56 Health Systems operational at 127 Hospitals across 29 States; in September 2021, there were around 71 Health Systems operational at 163 Hospitals across 33 states. Rainbow Care's platform manages patient eligibility, dispatch visit scheduling, telemedicine and monitoring vital signs through RPM devices. In addition, the solution provides extended integration of ancillary services for both virtual and in-home to support new care pathways. Rainbow Health's platform has helped coordinate care in over 1400+ at-home visits in the last few months, covering over 1200+ homebound patients. Rainbow Care is continuing to grow across several markets nationwide.
"Home is the heart of each patient's life, where they are the most comfortable and feel the safest. Patients should be the heart of healthcare delivery programs. Innovative programs introduced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, such as the Acute Hospital Care at Home program, have led many health systems and hospitals to implement hospital-at-home programs and bring care into patients' homes."
Shailendra Sinhasane, CEO of Rainbow Health
Sinhasane added: "What sets Rainbow Health apart from other solutions in the market is our unified care coordination and unparalleled logistics services."
Services include but are not limited to:
Dispatching nurses, paramedic and other clinical disciplines for at-home visits: The Rainbow Care platform helps organizations in dispatching care team members for at-home visits. The bird's eye map view allows them to see real time-visibility and track the status of care teams members.
The RPM feature allows any RPM vendor to connect: Rainbow Care has removed all limitations previously experienced by those looking to connect RPM vendors of their choice. Organizations can choose their own RPM vendor or from Rainbow Care's network.
Durable medical equipment (DME), lab, and diagnostic orders: Rainbow Care can facilitate at-home DME, lab testing, and diagnostic orders. The platform's marketplace allows users to choose vendor partners based on the fastest ETA and/ or cost efficiency to meet each patient's needs. The results of any lab tests will be sent directly to the patient's doctors, who will continue the care plan as normal by directly conveying the results to the patient.
The platform also efficiently improves collaboration in real time by reducing communication gaps that can occur when multiple care teams are involved in hospital-at-home operations. It includes at-home assessments that analyze social determinants data and suggest evidence-based interventions to caregivers and homecare services partners.
"Rainbow Care looks forward to continuing innovating and bringing expanded capabilities to the market for home-based care delivery," Sinhasane says. "As CMS and related healthcare regulations are updated, we will continue to expand to meet the growing needs of hospital-at-home programs."
The Rainbow Care platform is currently available to be deployed across all states and territories. For more information on the Rainbow Health's Platform or to get listed as a vendor in the marketplace, visit Rainbow Health today.
About Rainbow Health
Rainbow Health is a Houston-based healthcare technology company offering a suite of high-tech value-based care digital solutions that are configurable and scalable to meet the needs of hospitals and health systems, health plans, provider groups, home health agencies, and other risk-based organizations. Rainbow Health has extended its care coordination logistics platform to address patients' clinical and non-clinical needs such as prescription and meal deliveries, DME, transportation, wellness checks and preventive screenings and is conti
Read More