LONDON, Nov. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hikma
Pharmaceuticals PLC (LSE: HIK) (NASDAQ Dubai: HIK) (OTC: HKMPY),
(rated Ba1 Moody's / BB+ S&P, both stable) announces that its
venture capital arm, Hikma Ventures has led a CAD 5.6 million oversubscribed round of financing
for Winterlight Labs Inc. with participation from First
Star Ventures, Pacific Health Ventures, existing investor Grey Sky
Venture Partners and other investors.
Toronto-based Winterlight Labs
Inc. is developing a proprietary Artificial Intelligence (AI)
technology that melds computational linguistics, cognitive
neuroscience, and machine learning to help healthcare professionals
assess and analyse patients' cognitive health – including memory,
thinking and reasoning – from vocal markers captured in short
snippets of speech on a tablet computer. Using a one-minute sample
of a patient's natural speech, Winterlight's novel approach can
quickly and accurately detect various cognitive and mental
disorders, such as dementia and aphasia amongst others, and then
monitor the efficacy of treatments.
Lana Ghanem, Managing Director of
Hikma Ventures, said, "We are very excited to enter into the field
of vocal diagnostics by leading the investment in Winterlight Labs.
We recognise the global potential of voice analysis for the
diagnosis, monitoring and ongoing treatment of various diseases and
look forward to working with the team and our co-investors to help
advance the technology and expand disease areas and geographies
covered, especially in the Middle
East and North Africa."
Hikma Ventures operates as the corporate venture capital arm of
Hikma Pharmaceuticals. Its priority is to identify and invest in
emerging companies in the digital health space globally that have
the potential to enhance Hikma's market intelligence and future
pipeline.
"We are happy to have Hikma Ventures and other investors join
Winterlight Labs in our mission to improve the lives of people with
dementia and other psychiatric illnesses," commented Liam Kaufman, Co-founder and CEO of Winterlight
Labs. "The technology our team is creating will reshape the way
healthcare systems track, screen for and assess the effectiveness
of treatments for various central nervous system diseases."
Winterlight will be using the proceeds of this financing to
extend its technology to additional indications, such as
schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis, as well as additional
languages. "Our ultimate goal is to help patients get better sooner
by objectively measuring response to therapy in the real world
through speech," continued Kaufman.
About Hikma
Hikma helps put better health within reach
every day for millions of people in more than 50 countries around
the world. For more than 40 years, we've been creating high-quality
medicines and making them accessible to the people who need them.
Headquartered in the UK, we're a global company with a local
presence across the United States (US), the Middle
East and North Africa (MENA) and Europe, and we
use our unique insight and expertise to transform cutting-edge
science into innovative solutions that transform people's
lives. We're committed to our customers, and the people they
care for, and by thinking creatively and acting practically, we
provide them with a broad range of branded and non-branded generic
medicines. Together, our 8,400 colleagues are helping to shape
a healthier world that enriches all our communities. We are a
leading licensing partner, and through our venture capital arm, are
helping bring innovative health technologies to people around the
world. For more information, please
visit www.hikma.com.
About Hikma Ventures
Founded in August 2015, Hikma Ventures operates as the
corporate venture capital arm of Hikma Pharmaceuticals. Hikma
Ventures invests in global start-ups where Hikma's expertise can
accelerate revenue growth and enhance value creation by providing
ventures with access to the resources of a multinational
pharmaceutical company.
For more information, please visit www.hikmaventures.com.
About Winterlight Labs Inc.
Winterlight has developed
a tablet-based assessment that is fast, objective, and stress-free.
By analysing speech alone, the technology can detect cognitive
impairment associated with dementia and mental illness as track the
efficacy of related treatments. The Winterlight assessment can be
used in life science research, senior care and clinical settings.
For more information, please visit
https://winterlightlabs.com/.
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SOURCE Hikma Pharmaceuticals