Philips Expands its Sleep & Respiratory Care Portfolio with the Acquisition of NightBalance

PhilipsRoyal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced that it has acquired NightBalance, a digital health scale-up company based in the Netherlands, that has developed an innovative, easy to use device to treat positional obstructive sleep apnea and positional snoring. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

NightBalance's Sleep Position Trainer (SPT) was designed as a comfortable and easy to use treatment alternative for people who suffer from positional obstructive sleep apnea. The SPT gently prompts them not to sleep on their back, avoiding the apneas from occurring during sleep. The SPT is CE-marked and is currently marketed in select countries in Europe [1].

"NightBalance offers a unique, patient friendly solution to treat positional obstructive sleep apnea and positional snoring that is highly complementary to our current offerings," said John Frank, Business Leader Sleep & Respiratory Care at Philips. "This acquisition will help us further expand our leadership position in the growing home care market, and our ability to deliver integrated solutions that drive efficiencies and improved outcomes."

"We founded NightBalance in 2009 with the ambition to improve the lives of positional apnea patients worldwide," said Eline Vrijland-van Beest, CEO of NightBalance. "I am proud that our innovation is in good hands with Philips. Their strength in connected sleep therapy solutions and global reach will accelerate the accessibility of the Sleep Position Trainer."

Obstructive sleep apnea is a serious condition in which breathing pauses and restarts during sleep. When most of these pauses occur when a person is lying on his or her back, it is called positional obstructive sleep apnea. Philips already offers a broad range of care solutions for people living with obstructive sleep apnea. This includes the award-winning Dream Family comprising DreamWear, a comprehensive portfolio of advanced mask designs, DreamStation, a CPAP therapy [2] system connecting patients and care teams, and DreamMapper, an application that helps patients adjust to sleep therapy and compliance.

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2017 sales of EUR 17.8 billion and employs approximately 74,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries.

1. SPT is not available in the US
2. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure therapy

Most Popular Now

AI-Powered CRISPR could Lead to Faster G…

Stanford Medicine researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to help scientists better plan gene-editing experiments. The technology, CRISPR-GPT, acts as a gene-editing “copilot” supported by AI to help...

Groundbreaking AI Aims to Speed Lifesavi…

To solve a problem, we have to see it clearly. Whether it’s an infection by a novel virus or memory-stealing plaques forming in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, visualizing disease processes...

ChatGPT 4o Therapeutic Chatbot 'Ama…

One of the first randomized controlled trials assessing the effectiveness of a large language model (LLM) chatbot 'Amanda' for relationship support shows that a single session of chatbot therapy...

AI Tools Help Predict Severe Asthma Risk…

Mayo Clinic researchers have developed artificial intelligence (AI) tools that help identify which children with asthma face the highest risk of serious asthma exacerbation and acute respiratory infections. The study...

AI Model Forecasts Disease Risk Decades …

Imagine a future where your medical history could help predict what health conditions you might face in the next two decades. Researchers have developed a generative AI model that uses...

AI Distinguishes Glioblastoma from Look-…

A Harvard Medical School–led research team has developed an AI tool that can reliably tell apart two look-alike cancers found in the brain but with different origins, behaviors, and treatments. The...

Smart Device Uses AI and Bioelectronics …

As a wound heals, it goes through several stages: clotting to stop bleeding, immune system response, scabbing, and scarring. A wearable device called "a-Heal," designed by engineers at the University...

AI Model Indicates Four out of Ten Breas…

A project at Lund University in Sweden has trained an AI model to identify breast cancer patients who could be spared from axillary surgery. The model analyses previously unutilised information...

Overcoming the AI Applicability Crisis a…

Opinion Article by Harry Lykostratis, Chief Executive, Open Medical. The government’s 10 Year Health Plan makes a lot of the potential of AI-software to support clinical decision making, improve productivity, and...

Dartford and Gravesham Implements Clinis…

Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust has taken a significant step towards a more digital future by rolling out electronic test ordering using Clinisys ICE. The trust deployed the order communications...