Both companies use AI to provide monitoring and early care solutions for patients.
Osaka-based Takeda Pharmaceuticals will be handing over the reins of Gaido Health to Biofourmis, a digital therapeutics startup based out of Boston, according to a statement by the company.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Gaido Health is a digital therapeutics company geared to the oncology market that, prior to the acquisition, was part of Takeda Digital Ventures, the corporate technology investment and incubation arm of Takeda Pharmaceuticals.
Biofourmis develops clinically validated software-based therapeutics for patients and tools for clinicians to enable personalized care. The acquisition will strengthen Biofourmis’ operational capabilities in providing oncology care solutions.
The company has prominent investors on board, including investment giant Sequoia’s regional arm Sequioa Capital India and early GO-JEK backer Openspace Ventures.
“Biofourmis’ digital therapeutics solution for oncology—now bolstered with this acquisition of Gaido Health—is based on an innovative approach that continuously monitors patients’ physiology biomarkers and symptoms, detects early signs of complications, and arms care teams with tools to intervene early to prevent medical crises, improve outcomes and lower costs,” said Kuldeep Singh Rajput, Founder and CEO of Biofourmis, in the statement.
Biofourmis provides digital therapeutic solutions in areas such as heart failure, chronic pain and other cardiometabolic diseases, as well as oncology and infectious diseases. The platform also leverages algorithms of the company’s artificial intelligence (AI)-based analytics platform Biovitals, Rajput added.
Gaido Health also uses AI algorithms to collect real-time patient data such as signs of complications, which enables clinicians to intervene early and monitor discharged oncology patients.
Bruce Meadows, Head of Investments at Takeda Digital Ventures, said in the statement, “Gaido was founded in 2018 to create new tools that assist caregivers in monitoring patients undergoing chemotherapy, and we are very proud of what Gaido has achieved. Biofourmis will continue this vital work.”
Paired with the Biovitals platform, the technology aims to detect signs of complications in cancer patients ahead of time via remote monitoring of their vital signs, patient surveys, and analytics.
“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,” Rajput elaborated in the statement.
Rajput added that the acquisition will enable access to better tools for patients who have a diagnosis of cancer therapy-induced cardiotoxicity that could potentially lead to heart failure.
The statement also said that the two companies’ platforms will be integrated to manage toxicity levels in patients undergoing a type of cancer-combative immunotherapy that uses specially altered T cells from their immune system, called CAR T-Cell Therapy.
In a transfer of leadership, CEO of Gaido Health Gary Manning will move into the role of Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at Biofourmis.
“Biofourmis’ acquisition of Gaido Health will expand the population of remotely monitored patients and using their tremendous technology will move our capabilities from detection of deterioration to prediction and enable earlier interventions using software-based therapeutics,” Manning noted in the statement.
Gaido Health has previously leveraged Biofourmis technology prior to being acquired, via its wearable biosensor Everion that facilitates home monitoring.
Header image courtesy of Biofourmis
