BOSTON, July 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Orion Health Group Limited (NZX:OHE/ASX:OHE) announced that it has reached an agreement in relation to Orion Health’s Rhapsody and Population Health businesses with Hg, a specialist technology investor committed to helping build global businesses with funds of c.GBP10 billion under management.

The agreement is for entities managed by Hg to acquire majority ownership of Orion Health’s Rhapsody business and to invest in Orion Health’s Population Health business.

Healthcare technology is a core investment area for Hg, having recently completed a number of transactions across the sector. This investment will be made from Hg’s Mercury 2 Fund.

Orion Health built the first Rhapsody integration engine in the late-1990s quickly becoming one of the most recognized interoperability platforms for healthcare organizations today. The combination of Rhapsody’s global team and Hg’s resources will extend Rhapsody as a leader in the interoperability platform space, building on both Rhapsody’s world class technology and highly rated customer service.

Philippe Houssiau, an experienced global technology executive, will step in to lead the Rhapsody business. Philippe has broad experience in leading healthcare businesses, consulting and start-ups, and is formerly CEO of Agfa Healthcare, CEO of Alliance Medical and a Senior Partner with PwC.

“This investment provides Orion Health with a tremendous opportunity to deliver on our vision for customers, our people and for the healthcare sector,” said Ian McCrae, Founder and CEO, Orion Health. “The Board and I believe that Hg is the right partner to accelerate the expansion of Rhapsody and support our vision for our Population Health business.”

“Hg has been researching the theme of interoperability and population health management in healthcare IT over many years,” said David Issott, Partner, Hg. “We believe this is a key global growth theme backed by substantial market funding and resources. Rhapsody provides fantastic products and services for this market and we look forward to partnering with the team at Rhapsody to maximize its potential across the globe. We are also excited to work with Ian and the team to realize the full potential of the Population Health business.”

“Rhapsody is a high-quality business with strong underlying fundamentals and a solid pipeline of new business,” said Philippe Houssiau, CEO Rhapsody. “We believe that the current healthcare market dynamic, with increasing requirement for ‘data liquidity’, presents Rhapsody with a real opportunity for further growth and a solid base for sustained performance. With a focused leadership team and the investment provided by Hg, Rhapsody will be able to leverage its core markets whilst expanding into selected and emerging segments.”

Full details of the transaction can be found in a Market Release on the investor page of Orion Health’s website here. Summary:

• Hg will acquire Rhapsody for NZ$205 million funded by debt and equity arranged by Hg. Orion Health will then utilize circa NZ$28 million of the transaction proceeds to acquire an ongoing 24.9% shareholding in the Rhapsody business.
• Hg will also acquire a 24.9% stake in Population Health by investing circa NZ$20 million in that business. Orion Health will invest around NZ$12 million of the Rhapsody transaction proceeds in Population Health based on an agreed enterprise value of NZ$50 million (on a cash free and debt free basis) together with NZ$30 million of net cash to fund ongoing operations.
• Orion Health will continue to own 100% of its Hospitals business.
• Following completion of the transaction, Orion Health will undertake a share buyback offer at an estimated price range of NZ$1.24-NZ$1.29 per share, with the final offer price dependent on Orion Health’s available cash immediately following completion taking into account transaction costs and working capital adjustments in relation to the Rhapsody transaction. Shareholders will have the option to accept the share buyback offer in respect of all or a specified proportion of their Orion Health shares.
• The bottom of the estimated buy back price range represents a premium of 46% to the closing price per Orion Health share of NZ$0.85 on July 2, 2018 and 55% to the volume weighted average trading price over the 20 trading days prior to July 3, 2018.

The injection of capital will provide investment for Orion Health to build leading global technology for the healthcare sector.

“As the healthcare sector evolves, so too has Orion Health. We believe the biggest advances in healthcare technology will come from a range of capabilities including advanced analytics and better data flow to address critical issues within the sector. In the face of growing and aging populations and the rise of chronic diseases, health systems the world over are under enormous strain. Our Population Health and Hospitals solutions are focused on helping healthcare organizations turn data into insights and clinical action and allow them to use this knowledge to optimize budgets and provide targeted patient care.

“This injection of capital will advance Orion Health’s businesses to reach their full potential over time. For our Population Health business, it will help strengthen our position as a market leader, and for our Hospitals business, it will further support its growth,” said McCrae. 

The transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including regulatory approval of the transaction and the share buyback offer by Orion Health’s shareholders. A notice of meeting describing the transaction and the share buyback offer will be circulated to shareholders. The independent directors have also commissioned an independent report from KordaMentha.

“This transaction is an important stepping stone in Orion Health’s efforts to build a solid and competitive business and provides our shareholders with choice in relation to their investment,” said Andrew Ferrier, Chairman of the Board, Orion Health. “We believe that providing shareholders both the option to cash-out at a substantial premium to the current trading price and the opportunity to elect to maintain an ongoing investment in Orion Health, including its 24.9% stake in Rhapsody and 75.1% stake in Population Health, is in the best interests of shareholders. This transaction has strong support from Orion Health’s Board and major shareholders.”

Enquiries:

Orion Health
Alex Mercer
P +1 857 488 4740
E alexme@orionhealth.com

Hg
Tom Eckersley
P +44 (0)20 7089 7888
E tom.eckersley@hgcapital.com

About Orion Health
Orion Health (NZX:OHE/ASX:OHE) is a health technology company that provides solutions which enable healthcare to over 110 million patients globally. Its open technology platform, Orion Health Amadeus, seamlessly integrates all forms of relevant data to enable population and personalized healthcare around the world. The company is committed to continual innovation to cement its position at the forefront of precision medicine. For more information visit www.orionhealth.com.

About Hg

Hg is a sector expert investor, committed to helping build ambitious businesses across the technology, services and industrial technology space, primarily in Europe. Deeply resourced sector teams focus on specific sub-sectors and investment themes to identify companies occupying an established position within a niche, and which have the potential to grow faster than their market, create employment and become the leader in their industry. Hg’s dedicated operations innovation team provides practical support to management teams to help them realise their growth ambitions. Based in London and Munich, Hg has funds under management of c. GBP10 billion serving some of the world’s leading institutional and private investors. For further details, please see www.hgcapital.com.

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UPPSALA, Sweden, July 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — A new benchtop instrument from Thermo Fisher Scientific, the Phadia 200, enables new levels of flexibility and automation for laboratory testing facilities to aid in the diagnosis of allergy and autoimmunity conditions. The Phadia 200 is CE-marked, and the first installations are underway at select European sites.

The Phadia 200 benchtop instrument from Thermo Fisher Scientific enables new levels of flexibility and automation for laboratory testing facilities to aid in the diagnosis of allergy and autoimmunity conditions.

As the newest addition to the Phadia Laboratory Systems, the small, highly flexible Phadia 200 instrument can perform up to 700 different ImmunoCAP and EliA tests to aid in the diagnosis of allergic and autoimmune diseases. The instrument accommodates many types of workflows and provides facilities with the ability to create test menus for clinicians to meet their particular needs.

The Phadia 200 instrument is fully automated to reduce hands-on time and provide full traceability of all reagents. Its compact design enables smaller diagnostics facilities with expanding demands to increase their throughput and efficiency. It also minimizes the need to send samples offsite for testing, allowing labs to retain control of their own samples and improve their operational efficiencies. Like all Phadia instruments, the Phadia 200 instrument detects and quantifies clinically relevant antibodies in the blood to support clinical diagnosis in autoimmune and allergic disease.

The Phadia 200 also offers significant flexibility for large testing laboratories. It can process 42 samples at a time and provide up to 200 test results per day. For users of existing Phadia instruments, the Phadia 200 can be clustered with other Phadia instruments to enable flexible expansion. And, as testing needs grow, the unique Phadia Prime software allows integration into one network using a single software.

“Testing in the allergy and autoimmunity disease areas is changing faster than ever before in a consolidating laboratory market,” said Stefan Wolf, president, Immunodiagnostics, Thermo Fisher Scientific. “The Phadia 200 instrument is a significant step forward in bringing full automation and efficiency to diagnostic testing facilities of all sizes. It enables labs to offer a wide range of tests in fast-growing markets and supports continued growth in more established markets.”

About Thermo Fisher Scientific
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science, with revenues of more than $20 billion and approximately 70,000 employees globally. Our mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. We help our customers accelerate life sciences research, solve complex analytical challenges, improve patient diagnostics, deliver medicines to market and increase laboratory productivity. Through our premier brands – Thermo Scientific, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific and Unity Lab Services – we offer an unmatched combination of innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and comprehensive support. For more information, please visit www.thermofisher.com.

Media Contact Information:
Martin Danielson
Lifecycle Director Systems
Immunodiagnostics
+46  731537908
martin.danielson@thermofisher.com

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STOCKHOLM, July 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — FOREO has announced the appointment of Filip Sedic as Chief Executive Officer to lead the company through its next phase of innovation and spur exponential growth. He assumes responsibilities immediately and will succeed Paul Peros who has stepped down to pursue new projects in the technology sector.

Filip Sedic currently holds the position of Chairman of the Board and is the primary inventor of FOREO’s award-winning product line including the LUNA cleansing devices and UFO smart mask treatment. As the original inspiration behind the brand and its strategic vision, Sedic will ensure a smooth transition, supporting further success.

“We would like to thank Paul Peros for the contribution he has made to the growth of FOREO from its beginning until to now,” Filip Sedic commented. “Through our five year journey, the company has developed into a strong organization, and is now ready to face up to an exciting new chapter in its history.” 

Swedish Beauty-Tech brand FOREO is stocked in more than 10,000 stores globally and since its founding in 2013, has won more than 90 international awards. 2017 saw a year of record growth with more the 10 million products delivered across 70 international markets.

For further media information please contact pr@foreo.com

About FOREO

Sweden-based FOREO aims to empower you to brighten your life, offering a new standard of beauty and wellbeing solutions to a wider audience than ever before. Our approach is a bold one: we don’t just improve existing designs; we tear them down completely and restart from the ground up – ensuring the best solutions are not reserved for the wealthy few. That’s also why we’re called FOREO, short for “For Every One.” We create groundbreaking, accessible solutions that bring happiness and benefit to everyday lives, at a fraction of the cost of professional treatments. We’re here to promote self-confidence: when you feel good, you look good – and our mission is complete.

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Source: Adlai Nortye Biopharma Co., Ltd.

HSINCHU and WUHAN, July 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — JHL Biotech announced today that the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE), State Drug Administration of China (SDA) has approved JHL’s Phase I and Phase III Clinical Trial Application for a proposed rituximab biosimilar, JHL1101, to treat non-Hodgkin lymphoma. JHL will begin clinical trials of JHL1101 in the following months.

Racho Jordanov, JHL Biotech’s Co-Chairman and CEO stated, “This study adds to the data collected in the JHL1101 EU study and will differentiate JHL from many of its competitors. JHL Biotech is one of the few companies conducting clinical trials with biosimilars globally.”

About JHL Biotech

JHL Biotech Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company founded by a group of industry veterans with deep experience in biologics development and operations. With a mission to provide the world with affordable medicines of exceptional quality, the company is focused on research and development of new protein-based therapies and biosimilars. JHL Biotech’s experienced leadership team, ongoing global clinical trials for its pipeline of biosimilar candidates and two Asia-based world-class biologics manufacturing facilities built in accordance with United States, European Union, and ICH cGMP regulations and standards uniquely position the company to be a leading global supplier of high quality biologics. JHL Biotech is backed by premier financial firms, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sequoia Capital, Biomark Capital, Milestone Capital, Fidelity and the China Development Industrial Bank. For more information, please visit www.jhlbiotech.com.

Media Contact:
Ellis Chu: echu@jhlbiotech.com phone: +886 3-658-3899
Jill Liu: jliu@jhlbiotech.com phone: +886 3-658-3899
Amber Chen: achen@jhlbiotech.com phone: +886 3-658-3899

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Source: Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare Co., Ltd.

CHENGDU, China, July 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Tianfu Software Park is one of the largest tech parks in China, we selected a batch of excellent enterprises which grown up in the park, and visited their founders or CEOs. The face-to-face communication allowed them to learn more about the latest thoughts, analyses and outlooks of the enterprises about science and technology in China. We hope this will bring inspiration to people who hope to enter the industry.

Tianfu Software Park excellent enterprise: Borns Medical Robotics Inc (also refer as “Borns”) was founded by Dr. Yao Li who is a scientist at Stanford AI Lab, Stanford Robotics Lab. The China headquarters is located in Tianfu Software Park of the Chengdu High-tech Zone and Bio-Town, while the US R&D center is located in Silicon Valley. Borns mainly focuses on the application of AI medicine and is dedicated to advancing minimally invasive surgical robotics and their clinical application. The Borns team is made up of experienced roboticists and scientists from the biomedical engineering field, including the co-founder and CTO, IEEE Life Fellow, Dr. William Levine.

Dr. Yao Li received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. He has worked as a postdoctoral research associate in biomedical engineering at the University of Southern California. Currently he is a research scientist at the Robotics Lab of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Stanford University. He is also a member of the Robotics and Laparoscopic Surgery Committee of the Chinese Society of Research Hospitals, and has had a long engagement in medical robotics and artificial intelligence medical research. He has his own unique view on the current situation and development trends of AI-Powered Minimally Invasive Surgery in China.

New Changes in Industry: AI Empowering Minimally Invasive Surgery

Regarding the biggest change in medicine in recent years, Dr. Li believes it is the “technology empowerment”, especially in high-end medical devices and medical services. In 2015, “Internet Plus” was initiated as a national strategy in China. This opened a new platform for business for innovative medical devices, innovative medical services, and intelligent wearable devices. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) allows technology to empower the medical industry: medical image analysis, machine reading and intelligent diagnosis, all of which can deliver much more accurate results than an average doctor.

Dr. Li explained that AI integrates data sciences, optimization theories, and automation technologies, to solve problems in learning through super computation. Its application to health care has just begun. Due to lack of knowledge of the disease mechanisms, the current diagnosis methods are sometimes biased and treatment methods are sometimes inaccurate. AI potentially has a broad application in diagnosis and treatment of diseases and in the improvement of surgical performance and outcomes through automation of surgery.

Currently, quite a few enterprises in China and globally, have started working on the application of AI to medicine. This work can mainly be divided into two categories: one is medical diagnosis systems based on clinical big data and pathology imaging science, such as IBM’s Watson and Tencent’s Miying (Image Seeking). The second category is medical devices, including sensors collecting front-end signals for data analysis, high-performance AI processors, robotics, and automation systems. Utilizing robotics and data science, Borns has developed new minimally invasive surgical robot with own intellectual property to meet the surgical requirement in China.

Dr. Li stated that every surgery contains massive amounts of real-time data, such as intraoperative images, vital signs, surgeons’ manipulations, surgical instruments, etc. Borns robots utilize this vast trove of surgical data, human machine interaction, and optimal control, to achieve precise minimally invasive robotic surgery. The intelligent “surgical brain”, through deep learning, gives surgeons guidance on decision-making and surgical assistance to improve the accuracy and safety.

The Ultimate Mission – Autonomous Robotic Surgery.

Medical robotics includes: surgical robots, diagnosis robots, and rehabilitation robots, etc. Compared with human surgeons, robot can maintain more stable, finer and safer operation for a longer time in complicated surgeries. Through the Internet, surgical robots can also perform remote diagnosis and surgery, which could distribute better treatment to remote areas. According to Grand View Research, surgical robotics owns more than 60% of the market share of medical robots. Surgical robots can be further divided into neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, laparoscopic surgery and interventional surgery robots, etc. The laparoscopic minimally invasive surgery robots are currently the most popular robot. More than 600,000 robotic surgeries have been successfully carried out in more than 800 hospitals in 33 countries around the world, covering gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, cardiology, and thoracic etc.

When it comes to the medical applications of robots, Dr. Li believes that the automation process will be similar to the development of human apprentices with the development route going from “assistant”, to “collaborator,” and on to “independence”. Initially, the robot will assist doctors to complete basic surgical operations; in the collaboration phase, the human and robot will work together to complete complicated operations, with the doctors mainly taking the role of decision making. Ultimately, robots will independently execute the surgery. Throughout the process, the robot will learn from the surgeons’ experience and decision-making guidelines, accurately identify the key clinical goals and implement the corresponding programs. This will be the breakthrough that results in the future in autonomous surgery.

Minimally Invasive Robotics: High Growth Potential

According to BCG Boston Consulting, as of January 2016, the global medical robot industry achieved annual revenue of $7.47 billion, and is expected to grow at a steady compound annual rate of 15.4% over the next five years, given that global medical robot sales are expected to reach $11.4 billion by 2020. With the increasing demand for complex operations and the upgrade of medical infrastructure, more and more hospitals are open for surgical robots. According to Morgan’s recent study, American surgeons believe that the use of surgical robots will increase by around 50% in the next 3 to 5 years, a huge market potential.

In view of the global market share of surgical robots, North America is currently the largest market for surgical robotics. With the upgrade of medical systems and increased awareness of minimally invasive surgery, the focus should gradually shift to the Asian market. Medical robotics are an important part of China’s industry 4.0 strategy. In the outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan and subsequent guidance documents such as Made in China 2025, the State Council proposes a focus on the development of medical robots and other high-performance diagnostic and treatment equipment, and actively encourages innovation in domestic medical devices. National ministries and local governments have provided policy guidance on the establishment of medical robot testing and application platforms, and set up the standards in the robotics industry. Surgical robotics have become a focus of national development in the future.

Startup Mission-No Difficult Surgeries for Doctors

As an expert in robotics and artificial intelligence, Dr. Li has been involved in many biomedical sciences researches, using automation as well as signals, systems and control theory to analyze sensorimotor control. He found that the use of advanced AI-control theory is far superior to the traditional methods in terms of control quality, model prediction and safety. We can accelerate the technology in a much broader surgery field by upgrading the robotics system using advanced AI control, which could liberate doctors from heavy labor.

“We wish to help surgeons,” said Dr. Li,” it is a very hard job, and we hope to use artificial intelligence robotics to improve minimally invasive surgery so that surgeons and patients can all benefit from it.”

Chengdu: The Silicon Valley of AI Health Care

According to the 2017 Investment Analysis Report on China’s Healthcare, the market of China’s medical device industry has grown steadily in recent years, with a growth rate of more than 20%, reaching 370 billion yuan as of 2016. Talking about the experience of entrepreneurship in Chengdu, Dr. Li said that the Chengdu biomedical industry has reached a considerable scale.

Based on traditional biopharmaceuticals, Chengdu has begun focusing on innovative medical services and AI medical industries. Dr. Li said that, the AI medical industry, represented by surgical robotics, is on its way to marketization, but the path is not easy. According to the instructions specified in Made in China 2025, Guidance on the Healthy Development of the Pharmaceutical Industry, and other major policies issued by the State Council and National Ministries, this industry will be expected to achieve long-term leap-forward development. If Chengdu seizes this opportunity, and gives its support to the medical robot industry, it is possible to overtake the curve, and take the lead in the country to realize production, marketization and clustering.

Grand View Research:

Grand View Research is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. Grand View Research database is used by the world’s renowned academic institutions and Fortune 500 companies to understand the global and regional business environment. Our database features thousands of statistics and in-depth analysis on 46 industries in 25 major countries worldwide.

BCG Boston Consulting

The Boston consultancy was founded in 1963. After nearly 40 years of development, the Boston consulting company has become a world-renowned management consulting firm. It provides professional consulting services to large international enterprises and organizations on their development strategy and operating performance. Boston entered the Chinese market in the 1980s, and in January 1993, the Boston consultancy Shanghai limited company was formally established in Shanghai. At present, they have more than 70 consultants in Mainland China including Hong Kong and 2,700 consultants in the world.

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TAIPEI, Taiwan, July 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Taiwan’s leading trade show featuring agriculture, aquaculture and livestock manufacturing technologies and total solutions, the Asia Agri-Tech Expo & Forum 2018 will take place at Taipei World Trade Center on July 26-28. The 2018 conference will feature Dr. Roland Schafleitner of the World Vegetable Center, Dr. May Chodchoey of the Asia and Pacific Seed Association (APSA) and Mr. Patrick Hafenstein of Trade and Investment Queensland. The current appropriate solutions in terms of plant seed production, crop management and innovative technologies to conquer challenges of climate change and food crisis will be covered.

A keynote lecture will be delivered by Vice President of Alltech, Matthew Smith.

Dr. May Chodchoey, Deputy Director of the Asia and Pacific Seed Association (APSA)

Organised by UBM Taiwan, the conference’s 45 sessions are themed on plant health, aquaculture environment control, and sustainable livestock farming. A particularly inspiring panel discussion ‘Plant health management — the trends and solutions to reduce the usage of pesticides’ hosted by Dr. Shan-Da Liu, will be jointly led by Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, Taiwan Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute, Council of Agriculture, Rotam Global Agrosciences and CH Biotech R&D.

Other presentations cover Aquaculture Taiwan and Livestock Taiwan, opened by a keynote lecture from Vice President of Alltech, Matthew Smith. Mr. Smith makes his debut in Taiwan with Adchana Chaiteerapinyo, Asia Pacific Marketing Manager of Alltech. The talks will focus on the current challenges of sustainable farming and food production and consuming trends of agricultural industry. Meanwhile, more brand talks will be delivered by Dr Eckel Animal Nutrition, BASF, and Desert King Chile S.A.

Dr. Chih-Chieh Li of Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan’s leading technology R&D institution, will host the topical conference ‘Circular Economy: Biogas Reuse and Production’ and followed by Taiwan biogas technology manufacturers and suppliers to provide the best solution for turning livestock manure waste into reused energy. In addition, ‘The 16th Summit of Top 100 Pig Farmer Club’ and ‘2018 Agricultural Product e-Marketing Forum,’ organised by FoodChina.com and Taiwan Agrifood E-Commerce Association (AFECA), will also be held at the trade show.

The speakers for Aquaculture conference include Fisheries Research Institute, COA, National Taiwan Ocean University, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Asia University and so on. The rousing subjects are ‘seed production of cultured aquatic organisms nowadays and the future,’ ‘the strategies for the establishment of the sustainable shrimp aquaculture,’ and ‘improvement of aquaculture environment control.’  This year, Mr. Deral Chen, CEO of Blutech Inc. and Mr. Chien-Chih Chen, Manager of Sheng Quan Biotechnology will bring new concept in terms of water treatment and IT practice to help aquaculture farmers to increase the yield.

Online registration is open now. All interested parties are welcome to access the official web site at https://goo.gl/eHhgwa, or contact Ms. Joy Chou (Email: aat-tw@ubm.com).

About UBM Asia

Asia Agri-Tech Expo & Forum is organised by UBM, which in June 2018 combined with Informa PLC to become a leading B2B information services group and the largest B2B Events organiser in the world. Please visit www.ubm.com/asia  for more information about our presence in Asia.

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