(RTTNews) – German conglomerate Bayer AG Tuesday said it closed on its previously announced agreement to sell its Diabetes Care business to Panasonic Healthcare Holdings Co., Ltd. The total consideration for the transaction was around 1 billion euros or 132 billion Japanese yen.
The sale includes Contour portfolio of blood glucose monitoring meters and strips, as well as other products such as Breeze2, Elite and Microlet lancing devices.
Panasonic Healthcare is backed by funds sponsored by investment firm KKR (KKR) and Japanese consumer electronics giant Panasonic Corp. (PCRFF, PCRFY). The new stand-alone Diabetes Care business is named Ascensia Diabetes Care Holdings and is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland.
Bayer Diabetes Care or BDC, is a provider of blood glucose monitoring systems to people with diabetes and healthcare professionals around the world. Bayer’s Diabetes Care business accounted for 909 million euros in sales in 2014.
It was in June last year that Panasonic Healthcare agreed to acquire the diabetes devices business from Bayer for 1.02 billion euros or $1.16 billion to create a truly global diabetes care solutions business.
Big Pharma has long seen the potential for AI and machine learning to accelerate drug development. But Novo Nordisk is going a step further by channeling $200 million toward the creation of a computer that will outrun anything in existence.
Current methods for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease rely on a complex combination of self- and caregiver-reported symptoms, a physical examination and either a PET scan or a spinal tap to look for evidence of amyloid plaque build-ups in the brain. But a new artificial intelligence-based method may make the diagnostic process a much more objective one.
There is lots of talk about diversity and inclusion in business, including in pharma and medtech. A new report by the Open Political Economy Network (OPEN), a think tank focusing on migration and diversity, released its “Minority Businesses Matter: Europe” report highlighting the successes and challenges of ethnic minority-owned businesses in Europe.
