Synchron has high hopes that after successfully implanting the first minimally invasive neural brain-computer interface device in a human, it will eventually be able to give a "voice" to patients, including paralyzed individuals, who are unable to communicate. The company is conducting clinical trials and is hoping to use the data to apply for US FDA approval of the Stentrode device.

Cambridge Innovation Capital completes £150m fundraising to give it more firepower to reinforce Cambridge, UK’s pre-eminent status as Europe’s leading life sciences and tech hub.

This month's roundup also records a second tie-up between Florida State and Spotlight Innovations, while Taiwan's Lin Biosciences licenses global rights to a CDC7 kinase inhibitor from Columbia and Memorial Sloan Kettering.

It’s a first-in-class indication for clot-retrieval devices that the firm gained in a 2011 acquisition.