Biofourmis Acquires Digital Therapeutics Oncology Startup Gaido Health 

What You Should Know:

– Boston-based digital therapeutics startup Biofourmis acquires LA-based Gaido Health from Takeda Pharmaceuticals, in a strategic deal that expands Biofourmis’ portfolio in the oncology space.

– Gaido Health—a digital therapeutics company focused on the oncology market—was part of Takeda Digital Ventures, Takeda’s corporate technology investment and incubation arm.

– With Gaido Health’s and Biofourmis’ dual focus on remote monitoring with wearables and AI-based technology, the acquisition is especially timely since the companies’ combined therapy can keep patients with cancer healthier in their homes following discharge from the hospital—especially in light of oncology patients being immunocompromised from their treatments and therefore more susceptible to viruses, including COVID-19.

Biofourmis,
a global leader in digital therapeutics that powers personalized predictive
care, announced today it has finalized an agreement to acquire
Gaido Health from Takeda Pharmaceuticals, a strategic deal that expands
Biofourmis’ portfolio in the oncology space. Gaido Health—a Los Angeles-area
based digital therapeutics company focused on the oncology market—was part of
Takeda Digital Ventures, Takeda’s corporate technology investment and
incubation arm.

Impact of Acquisition

The acquisition seeks to address a disconnected oncology care
pathway that has led to more than 30% of patients on chemotherapy being
readmitted to the hospital or requiring a visit to the emergency department. In
the United States alone, 1.6 million patients are diagnosed with cancer each
year, and the total cost of care is expected to rise to $170 billion in 2020.

Biofourmis
Expands into Oncology Market with Strategic Acquisition of Gaido Health

“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, CEO of Biofourmis. “The platform also
empowers patients with cancer to self-manage symptoms using Biofourmis’
artificial intelligence [AI]-based Biovitals® treatment algorithms, which
improves engagement and quality of life.”

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 patients with cancer who have been recently discharged from
the hospital. Gaido Health’s AI-based algorithms detect signs of
complications to inform the clinician, enabling earlier interventions.

Oncology patients are typically immunocompromised due to
their illness and treatments and therefore more susceptible to health issues
such as infection—so visiting healthcare facilities could increase their health
risks, including potential exposure to the novel coronavirus
(COVID-19). The algorithms offer insights to help clinicians safely monitor
recently discharged oncology patients in their homes to avoid those risks,
while also decreasing costs and increasing patient satisfaction.

“The first question we always ask ourselves at Takeda is,
‘How can we do more for patients?’—and Gaido Health does the same,” said Bruce
Meadows, Head of Investments at Takeda Digital Ventures.  “, and we are
very proud of what Gaido has achieved. Biofourmis will continue this vital
work.”

Rajput said that 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.

“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,” Rajput said.

Integration Plans for Gaido Health

The Gaido Health solution 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 total cost of CAR T-Cell therapy
has been estimated to be more than double the cost of the drug when factoring
in post-therapy hospitalization and the treatment of toxic side effects. Using
the Gaido Health 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,” Rajput explained.

Gaido Health’s CEO Gary Manning will be joining Biofourmis
as senior vice president of corporate development. He said that the two
companies’ complementary digital therapeutics solutions created an exciting
opportunity to join forces. Prior to the acquisition, Gaido Health was already
using Biofourmis’ Everion® wearable biosensor for home monitoring.

Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.