Private Company Edition: The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine’s half-year report shows the sector raised $10.7bn in the first half of 2020 versus $9.8bn raised in all of 2019. Also, DCVC Bio closed a $350m fund, new incubator opportunities and VC mega-deals for Dyne and Atomwise.

The recent launch of several noninvasive gene-based tests for Down syndrome and other fetal chromosomal abnormalities is poised to upend current prenatal screening practices and potentially usher in a new, multibillion-dollar market opportunity in the process. These new tests employ next-generation gene sequencing, along with advanced, risk-based computer algorithms, to detect and characterize fetal genetic abnormalities using the DNA present in a maternal blood sample. And because they are actually able to “interrogate” the DNA, they represent a huge technological advance over the current standard-of-care for prenatal screening.

Forest paid Janssen $357 million to acquire US and Canadian IP related to Bystolic. Nestle bought Pfizer’s nutritional’s business and Hologic beefed up its women’s health portfolio through its $3.8 billion Gen-Probe takeover. Both biopharma and medical device financing were down in April compared with last month.

A roundup of recent medtech mergers & acquisitions, strategic alliances, and financings.