San Diego, California-based Qualcomm has sold its connected health division Qualcomm Life to San Francisco private equity firm Francisco Partners
as part of a larger strategy to cut costs. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Qualcomm Life – was initially founded in 2011 and develops devices and platforms to capture and integrate connected device data. The spun off company will be renamed Capsule Technologies and will continue to operate as two separate business entities: Capsule and 2net.
Capsule will provide medical device connectivity products for hospitals and providers and 2net will focus on developing its medical grade mobile connectivity platform, which helps monitor chronic disease patients through smart devices and wearables.
According to Capsule Tech, the company’s technology is used by more than 2,000 hospitals in about 40 countries to connect medical devices to clinical information systems and help clinicians visualize and monitor patient health data.
Qualcomm has been focused on shedding costs after a hostile takeover attempt from competitor Broadcom and retrenching back to its core chip and telecom business.
Former Qualcomm Life President Rick Valencia will act as an advisor as the business transitions into its new status as a standalone company.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Private equity acquisitions in healthcare technology have been slowly ramping up alongside the maturation of the industry. One recent example was GTCR’s 2017 acquisition of health IT company GreatCall, which the firm later flipped to Best Buy for $800 million.
Francisco Partners is a private equity firm that focuses on technology companies. It’s current active healthcare portfolio includes discount pharmacy startup GoodRx, revenue cycle management software company Availity and health insurance platform Connecture.
“As hospitals continue to adopt data-driven approaches to managing patient care, Capsule stands to benefit by serving as a centralized connectivity hub for clinical information,” said Francisco Partners Partner Chris Adams in a statement.
“We are excited to partner with Capsule and to help the team capitalize on new innovations in device technology and software applications.”
Picture: Man As Thep, Getty Images
