Bigfoot Biomedical

Biomedical startup Bigfoot Biomedical is working on the creation of an artificial pancreas - a system for the automatic delivery of insulin to patients with type 1 diabetes.

The company was founded by Jeffrey Brewer, Brian Mazlish and Lane Desborough, whose children suffer from this disease. The official registration of Bigfoot Biomedical dates from 2014, and the company's office is located in Milpitas, Santa Clara County, California, United States.

History

2023: Abbott bought Bigfoot Biomedical

On September 5, 2023, the American Chemical and Pharmaceutical Corporation Abbott announced an agreement to acquire Bigfoot Biomedical, an artificial pancreas developer.

Bigfoot Biomedical is developing an intelligent Bigfoot Unity platform that provides insulin dose recommendations for diabetic patients based on continuous glucose monitoring and physician recommendations. Calculated values are displayed on plug-in smart caps for disposable insulin pen syringes.

Abbott bought an artificial pancreas developer

The financial terms of the deal between Abbott and Bigfoot Biomedical were not disclosed. The parties plan to complete the merger in the third quarter of 2023 after obtaining the necessary permits from regulators. It is noted that the companies have been cooperating since 2017, and in 2020 Abbott took part in the Series C financing round of Bigfoot Biomedical, during which a total of $45 million was raised.

The deal with Bigfoot Biomedical will bring together two leaders in diabetes care developing technologies such as continuous glucose monitoring and automatic insulin dosage calculation. The merger of our companies will continue to create interconnected solutions that will make diabetes therapy even more personalized and accurate, "said Jared Watkin, senior vice president of Abbott's diabetes care division.

Bigfoot Biomedical says it is the first company to design, develop and introduce a new insulin administration solution based on continuous glucose monitoring. In partnership with Abbott, there are plans to further develop the Bigfoot Unity platform, which will help improve the quality of life for people with diabetes.^[1]

2018: Abbott investment

At the end of March 2018, it became known that Abbott Laboratories expanded its partnership with startup Bigfoot by participating in the Series B funding round. Abbott's investment was not disclosed, but Bigfoot reported that following the round, the company managed to raise a total of $55 million. In the amount of $36 million received from investors in the previous Series A round of financing, which took place in 2016, the total amount of funds raised by Bigfoot exceeded $90 million.

We are pleased to welcome Abbott to our investor list, "Bigfoot Biomedical President and CEO Jeffrey Brewer said in a statement.

Abbott invests in artificial pancreas developer Bigfoot Biomedical

Abbott's involvement in Bigfoot funding suggests the companies share a common drive to change the paradigm for treating patients with insulin-dependent diabetes, he said.^[2]

In an interview with CNBC, Jeffrey Brewer explained that the goal of Abbott and Bigfoot is to create easy-to-use devices that connect to smartphones and make them available to as many people as possible.^[3]

Bigfoot plans to direct the funds received through funding to the development, clinical trials and commercialization of smartphone-compatible systems for diabetes patients, including syringe pens with insulin, insulin pumps and glucometers.

2017: Collaboration with Abbott

In July 2017, Bigfoot announced the launch of a collaboration with Abbott Laboratories, which is to combine the Bigfoot system with Abbott FreeStyle Libre technology to track blood glucose levels.

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