Biofourmis Expands into Oncology Market with Acquisition of Gaido Health

Digital therapeutics company Biofourmis (Boston, MA) has finalized an agreement to acquire Gaido Health from Takeda Pharmaceuticals, a 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.

According to a Biofourmis press release, 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 US 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’ 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, the company’s CEO.

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.

Gaido Health’s CEO Gary Manning will be joining Biofourmis as senior vice president of corporate development. He commented: “Biofourmis’ acquisition of Gaido Health will expand the population of remotely monitored patients-and using Biofourmis’ innovative technology will move our capabilities from detection of deterioration to prediction and enable earlier interventions using software-based therapeutics.”