Biofourmis acquires Gaido Health, expands into oncology

DIGITAL therapeutics startup Biofourmis on Thursday said it has acquired oncology-focused patient monitoring platform Gaido Health, to expand its portfolio in the oncology space.

The startup declined to disclose the financial details of the deal.

The acquisition seeks to provide a digital-therapeutics solution for oncology with Gaido Health, which will enable early intervention by clinicians and care teams. This, in turn, can help prevent medical crises, said Biofourmis.

Gaido Health was part of Takeda Digital Ventures, the investment arm of Japan-based Takeda Pharmaceutical Company.

Leveraging on its presence in the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong and China, Biofourmis will be rolling out its platform in multiple hospital systems in the coming months, chief executive Kuldeep Singh Rajput told The Business Times.

Gaido Health's solution, which will be supported by Biofourmis' existing Biovitals platform, combines information on vital signs collected via remote monitoring in the home, patient surveys and analytics to detect early signs of complications in cancer patients who were recently discharged from hospital.

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Gaido Health's AI-based algorithms can detect signs of complications to inform the clinician, enabling earlier interventions, it said.

The healthtech startup seeks to address a "disconnected oncology care pathway" that has led to high hospital readmission rates for immuno-compromised patients on chemotherapy, which has put immense strain on the healthcare system.

"In Singapore, where a quarter of the population develops cancer in their lifetimes, new approaches are necessary to support its long-term goal of increasing the survival rate of cancer patients in Singapore by 20 per cent by 2030," said the Boston-based startup.

The company was founded in Singapore but moved its headquarters to Boston last year after its Series B fundraising. Biofourmis also has offices in India and Zurich.

The Gaido Health platform also will be combined with Biofourmis' Biovitals platform to manage toxicities in patients undergoing CAR T-Cell Therapy, a form of immunotherapy that uses specially altered T cells, a part of the immune system, to fight cancer. 

The cost of post-therapy hospitalisation and treatment for its toxic side effects could come up to double the cost of the drug itself. However, using the platform, patients can be monitored at home to detect early signs of any clinical complications following therapy, which will enable care teams to receive real-time actionable alerts for earlier interventions that can prevent medical crises.

"By closely monitoring these groups of patients in their homes following discharge, providers can improve outcomes, decrease readmission rates, and lower the cost of care," said Mr Rajput.

Gaido Health's focus on oncology was a perfect complement to Biofourmis' existing digital therapeutics portfolio, which includes therapeutic areas such as heart failure, chronic pain and other cardiometabolic diseases, he added. 

"In addition to this strategic acquisition creating synergies for better remote monitoring of patients discharged from the hospital after cancer treatment, it will also mean better tools to manage patients who have a related diagnosis of cancer therapy-induced cardiotoxicity leading to heart failure, which is a dreaded complication."

Prior to the acquisition, Gaido Health was already using Biofourmis' Everion wearable biosensor for home monitoring, it said. Gaido Health's CEO Gary Manning will be joining Biofourmis as senior vice-president of corporate development.

This is not Biofourmis' first acquisition. Last year, the Singapore firm had bought Swiss-based Biovotion, which makes wearable sensors, and Bangalore-based software development partner Haashtag.

It recently customised its Biovitals Sentinel platform to detect symptoms of deterioration in Covid-19 patients; the platform identifies physiological changes that could point to an infection. This, in turn, enables medical professionals to step in early with treatment.