Guerbet announced its chief commercial officer will take over as CEO in January 2020. David Hale will lead the imaging company as it steps up its growth strategy, called Gear 2023.

French imaging agent specialist Guerbet is targeting multi-use markets to grow its diagnostic imaging business while continuing to build through acquisitions. While its diagnostic imaging revenues were about flat in 2018, its imaging intervention business grew almost 19% in constant currency compared to 2017.

BioNTech's $270m Series A round was the biggest start-up financing in January, but sizeable rounds also were raised by Centrexion ($67m), Eureka ($60m) and Pandion ($58m).

US FDA is requiring additional safety measures related to GBCAs, but holds that there is no direct relationship established between gadolinium retention and kidney function.