Happy 2024! Welcome back to your go-to spot to find the latest achievements in the life sciences and high-tech startups sphere. Here we highlight recent milestones of life science and hi-tech startups which we have worked with through Connect’s Springboard program.

The big announcement last month was the news of Inhibrx being acquired by pharma giant Sanofi for a total sum of $2.2B. A clinical stage biotech company developing cancer and rare disease therapeutics, Inhibrx last year was granted Fast Track Designation for its drug candidate, INBRX-101, the main drug of interest by Sanofi. Inhibrx has a pipeline of several other clinical drug candidates; these, together with its corporate infrastructure, will be spun out into a new company, Inhibrx Biosciences, Inc. Congratulations to the entire Inhibrx team!

Carlsmed – a medical device company, combines a patented medical device with patient- specific data to develop personalized spine surgery care for optimal outcomes. They recently announced clinical results of a landmark study using their aprevo^® technology which showed substantial patient improvement compared to those using only traditional spine surgery. This compelling outcome underlines the importance of personalized surgery for improved patient care.

Concert Health – integrates its behavioral health services with primary care physicians to deliver integrated healthcare solutions. They recently announced a partnership with Southern New England Healthcare (SoNE HEALTH), a collaboration which will combine the two organizations’ behavioral health approaches to better serve patients with the necessary mental health treatments they need.

DermTech – a global leader in precision medicine diagnostics for early detection of skin cancers using their non-invasive DermTech Melanoma Test (DMT), the company recently concluded a study which evaluated the use of DMT on various skin types. The positive results showed that DMT provided a highly reliable assessment to rule out melanoma for all skin types.

NeuraLace Medical – has developed a non-invasive and non-addictive pain reduction medical device – Axon^® Therapy – which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2021. They have now received a second FDA clearance for the treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) with their Axon Therapy mPNS (magnetic peripheral nerve stimulation) technology. This is the first non-invasive device ever approved by the FDA to treat PDN using mPNS and represents a major step forward for patients afflicted with chronic diabetic neuropathy.

ThinkingNod Life Science – founded in 2017, the company has developed a computing platform which utilizes AI and computational biology to create the first digital human cell clones. ThinkingNode recently announced a strategic partnership with Debiopharm, a privately-held Swiss biopharmaceutical company. Joining efforts the two companies are using their respective expertise to develop and advance cancer therapies.