During Q2, biopharmas brought in an aggregate $12.5bn in financing and device company fundraising totaled $3.7bn; while in vitro diagnostic firms and research tools players raised $720m.

The Boston company will use the new investment to continue scaling its virtual care business. Biofourmis also announced that medtech veteran Omar Ishrak is joining the company’s board as its chairman.

Digital and telehealth solutions took off during COVID-19 and industry observers expect them to advance still further in the coming year. Coupling enhanced patient experience with rich opportunities to use associated data to enhance product development and health care practice, benefits should accrue to industry, health care practitioners, health systems and patients alike.

Iris Zemzoum, Novartis Pharma's president for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, outlines how the company is shaping its strategy in the region, which comes with “extremes” in market profiles, via a distinct archetype that factors in commonalities between national healthcare systems. The company is also progressing interesting initiatives in digital therapeutics.