Abbott boosts support for Bigfoot Biomedical and its diabetes treatment tech

Diabetes treatment tech company Bigfoot Biomedical has raised another $45 million in the initial tranche of a Series C equity financing, with collaborator Abbott (NYSE:ABT)  as the lead investor.

“We are excited to announce Abbott’s deepening support of Bigfoot Biomedical with this Series C financing,” Bigfoot Biomedical CEO Jeffrey Brewer said in a news release today.  “Their investment bolsters and validates our approach to provide a wholly integrated offering, utilizing innovative technologies. Our industry partnership with Abbott uniquely positions us to reduce the heavy burden of dosing decisions for people with insulin-requiring diabetes.”

Existing investors — including Quadrant Capital Advisors, Senvest Capital, Janus Henderson and Cormorant Asset Management — also participated in the round. The money will go toward finishing product development and achieving FDA clearance for the Bigfoot Unity diabetes management program, an injection-based digitized insulin dosing platform.

Bigfoot Unity integrates Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre glucose sensing technology into a connected insulin-pen-based system. Bigfoot Biomedical officials have a goal of launching the system by the end of this year.

Money from the Series C will also go toward clinical trials of future Bigfoot Unity systems that will incorporate closed-loop technology for injection users — automating more processes and getting closer to an “artificial pancreas” type of system that has been a major goal for Bigfoot Biomedical and the diabetes tech space as a whole.

The money from Abbott comes about two and a half years after Bigfoot and Abbott announced a partnership to commercialize diabetes management systems that take advantage of automation and artificial intelligence. A few months later, Brewer discussed his vision for the future of diabetes treatment during an appearance at DeviceTalks West.