NEW YORK – T2 Biosystems said this week that the Nasdaq Hearings Panel has granted its request for an extension until Nov. 1, 2022, to regain compliance with Nasdaq's minimum bid price requirement. As a result, T2 shares must have a closing bid price of at least $1.00 per share for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days by Nov. 1, otherwise shares of T2's common stock will be delisted from Nasdaq. In addition, the panel approved T2's request to transfer the listing of its common stock from the Nasdaq Global Market to the Nasdaq Capital Market tier as of June 13, 2022. The transfer is not expected to have any impact on trading in the company's stock, T2 said.
HTG Molecular Diagnostics said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that on June 3 it received a letter from the Nasdaq stock market notifying it that for the 30 days preceding the notice, the bid price of the company's common stock had closed below the $1.00 per share minimum required for continued listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. If, during the 180-calendar-day period following the date of the notice, the closing bid price of the company's common stock is at or above $1.00 for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days, HTG will regain compliance with the minimum bid price requirement and its common stock will continue to be eligible for listing. If the company does not regain compliance by the end of this period, and if, on the last day of the compliance period, it complies with the market value of publicly held shares requirement for continued listing as well as all other standards for initial listing of its common stock (other than the minimum bid price requirement), it will be afforded an additional 180-day compliance period.
Thermo Fisher Scientific said this week that it is now offering an IVDR version of its Applied Biosystems QuantStudio 5 Dx Real-Time PCR system that meets the requirements of the European Union's new In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation and will help molecular diagnostic kit manufacturers develop IVDR-compliant tests and clinical labs switch to IVDR qPCR testing. Among other updates, the system's multi-mode software is now IVDR compliant, Thermo Fisher said. The system is a class A device under the IVDR, which is a self-certified process. It is available in all regions that recognize the CE mark and is listed with the US Food and Drug Administration.
Dante Genomics said this week that it has partnered with Italian fitness company GetFit Lifestyle to offer its "Scientific Fitness Reports" to GetFit Lifestyle's more than 30,000 members in Italy and Europe, starting July 1. Based on the reports, which point out associations between genetic variants and physical aptitude as well as metabolism, GetFit instructors will optimize members' personalized training plans. Financial and other details of the collaboration were not disclosed.
OriCiro Genomics of Japan said this week that it has closed a Series B2 financing of undisclosed size from Asahi Kasei Medical, a medical equipment and pharmaceutical manufacturer. OriCiro has been developing cell-free cloning technology for large, circular DNA for which PCR does not work. The firm plans to use the investment to accelerate its growth and hopes to benefit from synergies between the two companies.
Zoetis said this week that it has agreed to acquire pet genetics company Basepaws for an undisclosed amount. Privately held Basepaws provides genetic tests for pets to determine their breed, as well as their risk for various diseases. It currently offers a breed and health DNA test for cats and plans to expand into the dog market. The Los Angeles-based firm also maintains one of the world's largest feline genomic and oral microbiome databases. Zoetis, based in Parsippany, New Jersey, is an animal health company and had $7.8 billion in revenues last year.
Health-tech startup Owkin said this week that it will receive an $80 million Series B-1 equity investment from Bristol Myers Squibb as part of a multiyear strategic collaboration with the drug company to apply artificial intelligence to single-cell omics and other multimodal data in the design of clinical trials. The collaboration, which will start in cardiovascular disease, includes additional milestone payments potentially worth more than $100 million.
Owkin, which also has an investment deal with Sanofi and a development partnership with ADC Therapeutics, has built machine-learning technology that can accurately predict RNA-seq expression of tumors based solely on digitized histopathology images.
Pet liquid biopsy company PetDx said this week that Antech Diagnostics will make its OncoK9 multi-cancer early detection blood-based next-generation sequencing test for dogs available to all Antech customers across North America. PetDx recently published a validation study of the test, showing that it can detect 30 types of canine cancer. Antech is part of Mars Veterinary Health.
In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on GenomeWeb.