Digital health news, funding roundup in the prior week; September 26, 2022

Therabody raised $165M; Walgreens bought Shields Health; UnitedHealthcare and Peloton partnered

Top Health News

• Meru Health, an online mental health provider that combines science and technology, partnered with Curebase, an end-to-end clinical trial platform that provides virtual and hybrid site capabilities, to conduct a three-year clinical trial that will measure if Meru's solution is actually reducing depression among its members. The study will be split into two phases: in the proof-of-concept phase, 15 patients will undergo Meru Health's treatment program, while another 15 will receive treatment as usual, such as face-to-face therapy, antidepressants, or some combination, under the direction of their primary care physician. Meru Health and Curebase will begin recruiting for this first phase of the trial in early autumn of 2022 and expect it to conclude in the spring of 2023. After they analyze results and processes, the two companies will collaborate on a randomized controlled trial that will include 300 participants and eight primary care clinics. During the RCT phase, Curebase and Meru Health will collect and analyze electronic patient-reported outcomes. After participants complete treatment, researchers will track their progress for up to a year to determine whether there are sustained patient benefits from the Meru Health program when compared to standard treatment as usual.
• UnitedHealthcare, and Peloton renewed and expanded their relationship to help more people get or stay active and improve their overall well-being. Under the newly expanded agreement, as many as 10 million UnitedHealthcare commercial members may become eligible for a yearlong subscription to the Peloton App Membership – or receive a three-month waiver toward a Peloton All-Access Membership – at no additional cost as part of their health benefits. In addition, eligible UnitedHealthcare members in most states will receive preferred pricing on select Peloton connected fitness products, including the Peloton Bike, Bike+ and Tread. The Peloton offer is already included in most UnitedHealthcare fully insured employer-sponsored plans and is now available as an option for organizations with a self-funded plan and fewer than 3,000 employees and dependents.
• The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a volunteer panel of national experts in disease prevention and evidence-based medicine, recommended that anxiety screenings become the standard of care going forward for adults under 65. This follows a statement the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force made in April, in which it recommended the same for children 8 and older. The draft recommendation statement and draft evidence review are available for review and public comment until October 17. The group's statement does not go into more specifics about what those screenings would potentially look like, how they would be administered, or who would administer them, though they would presumably become part of regular primary care check-ups, through the use of the GAD-7.
• CardMedic, a UK-based digital health solution designed to improve communication between healthcare staff and patients through the the use of digital flashcards, expanded to the US market, with five new partnerships, including Nor-Lea Hospital District, a critical access hospital in Lovington, New Mexico, which is the first rural healthcare organization to deploy CardMedic’s solution; it is using the app across its 25-inpatient-bed hospital site. CardMedic is also partnering with Brigham and Women's Hospital, the second largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, which is piloting the CardMedic solution to help its patients and hospital staff and the Texas Medical Center Innovation HealthTech Accelerator Program, which has named CardMedic as one of its newest startups to its accelerator program. Other partnerships include ScaleHealth, a health innovation ecosystem that accelerates the impact of health innovation on a global scale, and MassChallenge, an organization dedicated to supporting innovation and entrepreneurship through collaboration and development, which has invited CardMedic to its HealthTech Accelerator.
• MDwise, a health maintenance organization serving more than 410,000 Hoosiers on Healthy Indiana Plan, Hoosier Healthwise and Medicare Advantage, announced a new partnership with Cityblock Health, a value-based healthcare provider for Medicaid, dually eligible and lower-income Medicare beneficiaries, to bring personalized care to approximately 10,000 Hoosiers at launch. The partnership officially launched in September 2022 and is expected to result in approximately 100 new clinical and non-clinical jobs within the state during the first year alone.
• Lyra Health, a provider of global Workforce Mental Health solutions, revealed plans to expand its support for whole family care in response to the growing crisis in childhood mental health. These initiatives include access to more than 3,900 specialized providers for children 0-17 in the U.S.; enhanced therapy for teens; expanded coaching programs for parents and caregivers; and personalized care navigation for Autism Spectrum Disorder. This suite of solutions will be available in 2023.
• OurCrowd, a global venture firm, launched the Global Health Equity Fund in collaboration with the WHO Foundation. The GHEF is a $200 million financial-first impact venture capital investment fund, focusing on breakthrough technology solutions that can impact healthcare globally. It will fuel innovation and increase investment in the health sector, with the shared goals of delivering competitive returns to investors and ensuring equitable access to medical care. The Global Health Equity Fund will focus on healthcare and the industries that are direct determinants of health, including energy transition and food agriculture, which together address markets worth trillions of dollars globally.
• The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative partnered with the nation’s four Historically Black Medical Colleges to support the scientific research they are leading to address significant gaps in genomics research, create new tools and methods to prevent and treat disease, and accelerate precision health for everyone, particularly Black people and other people of color. CZI’s Accelerate Precision Health program will advance genomics research by investing in genomics programs at each of the HBMCs: Charles Drew University College of Medicine in Los Angeles, California; Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C.; Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee; and Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. Through the partnership, the HBMCs will expand research opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral students; support the creation of a new Master of Science program in Genetic Counseling; support recruitment of anchor faculty in genomics; and fund state-of-the-art tools for data handling, storage, and analysis, among other elements.
• Transcarent, a company that offers a consumer-directed health and care experience for employees of self-insured employers and their families, announced the launch of its integrated pharmacy benefit offering. Members can find the lowest-cost drug option with Transcarent Pharmacy Marketplace and access integrated clinical care across all health and care experiences. Transcarent will, for the first time, allow Members and employers true control over their prescription-benefit decisions. Pharmacy Care will eliminate the mystery of the real cost of the product that has especially burdened mid-sized and smaller self-insured employers, who have not been able to exercise the same purchasing leverage as large employers.
• Providence announced it will invest $712 million in Orange County to build two new multi-specialty medical centers, and a new patient care tower that will offer roughly 100 new beds at the region's Providence Mission Hospital, among other community investments. The hospital expansion will focus on a new patient care tower which will provide operating suites, cardiac catheterization labs, and nearly 100 new private patient rooms. The hospital will also be constructing a new multi-specialty ambulatory surgery center on the campus, which will streamline surgical care for patients, attract new physician partners and offer the latest minimally invasive care options.
• Point32Health, a health and wellbeing organization, partnered with Cortica, a physician-led autism services provider, to expand access to advanced neurological therapies for children with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental differences in Massachusetts. Tufts Health Plan members with insurance coverage through their employer or via the Massachusetts Health Connector will be able to access Cortica’s pioneering integrated care model in September, followed by a rollout to the company’s MassHealth and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care members later in the fall.
• A bill introduced in the House of Representatives would require private health insurance to cover forensic exams for sexual assault survivors in full. The new bill would give the departments of Labor, the Treasury, and Health and Human Services the authority to designate types of providers beyond sexual assault nurse examiners who'd be eligible to give forensic exams that would be fully covered by private insurance, starting in 2025. If a victim receives a bill for costs the state is legally responsible for under the Violence Against Women Act, the proposed law would also require private insurers to let survivors know how to seek proper reimbursement. Additionally, the bill, called the No Surprises for Survivors Act, stipulates that forensic medical exams should be considered an emergency service under the No Surprises Act, a 2020 law that protects people with private insurance from receiving surprise medical bills for certain forms of emergency care.
• CytoReaso, a developer of computational disease models, announced an extension of its multi-year partnership with Pfizer to use CytoReason’s artificial intelligence technology for Pfizer’s drug development programs. Under the terms of the agreement, Pfizer will make a $20 million equity investment, have options to license CytoReason’s platform and disease models, and fund supplementary project support, in a deal potentially worth up to $110 million over the next five years. Since launching the collaboration in 2019, Pfizer has used CytoReason's biological models in its research to enhance the understanding of the immune system, as it develops innovative drugs for immune-mediated and immuno-oncology diseases. CytoReason's platform has provided Pfizer with multiple insights in research and development programs across over 20 diseases. The new research agreement and investment will support the development of additional disease models and the creation of high-resolution models, spanning across a number of therapeutic areas.
• UnitedHealth Group won a court fight over its multibillion-dollar deal to buy Change Healthcare Inc., as a judge rejected a challenge to the deal from the U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols issued a brief ruling approving the merger and directing the companies to proceed with a planned sale of Change Healthcare’s claims-editing business to an affiliate of TPG Capital for $2.2 billion. That divestiture, announced in April, was part of the companies' bid to resolve concerns by the Justice Department over UnitedHealth's acquisition of Change.
• Johnson & Johnson opened its San Francisco Bay Campus, a Research & Development facility in the Bay Area. The nearly 200,000 square-foot facility will house up to 400 employees, more than doubling the R&D presence of Johnson & Johnson in the Bay Area. The R&D focus at the new site spans Janssen’s therapeutic areas and key functions, including emerging science and technologies for gene and RNA therapies, novel treatments and approaches for retinal and infectious diseases, and advanced data science, including artificial intelligence and machine learning
• Verizon Business and Visionable, a provider of real-time and multi-streaming technology for the healthcare industry, expanded their partnership which will enable both companies to work on a range of connected healthcare solutions, via Visionable’s patented technology powered by Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband and 5G Edge network, in the U.S. Verizon and Visionable are working together on a secure next-generation digital healthcare collaboration platform that enables healthcare professionals to access data, collaborate and share resources within the APAC and EMEA regions. The partnership seeks to address some of healthcare’s biggest challenges including connecting frontline responders to specialist doctors during emergencies and enabling access to community-led care for patients needing long-term support.
• MCI Onehealth Technologies, a clinician-led healthcare technology company focused on increasing access to and quality of healthcare, and Oro Health, a provider of Asynchronous Telemedicine combined with artificial intelligence-based solutions for medical specialists, announced the launch of collaboratively developed MCI Dermatology Connect. The platform provides specific solutions needed for virtual dermatology care, including secure transfer of high-resolution imaging between patient and specialist. The platform utilizes Oro Health technology that employs dynamic intelligent triage, facilitating swift categorization and assessment of a patient’s dermatological condition. Integrated tools such as predefined templates for prescriptions, diagnosis and treatment, cultivates a streamlined care environment for both MCI patients and practitioners. Moreover, asynchronous teledermatology eliminates the necessity for set appointments between the patient and physician, widening the possibilities for swift physician response and the delivery of appropriate care, leading to expected improvements in patient experience and health outcomes. The collaboration accelerates MCI’s vision to transform primary care delivery with precision medicine technologies, novel referral optimization and custom tech-forward initiatives.
• CPSI, a healthcare solutions company, partnered with i2i Population Health, a population health technology company. With this collaboration, CPSI and i2i deliver population health management capabilities that can improve community health and patient satisfaction. i2i’s integrated premier PHM platform also enables CPSI clients to improve quality performance, increasing revenue and reimbursement.
• Genome Medical, a telehealth provider of genetic services and genomics-based care, and Pierian, a provider of advanced clinical genomics technology and services, announced a collaboration designed to streamline and optimize onsite genomics programs for health care organizations and provider groups. The companies’ services, when combined with genomic testing capabilities, create an end-to-end patient and clinician experience that elevates standards of care and patient outcomes. Genome Medical and Pierian are working together to efficiently identify patients who may benefit from genomic testing and an enhanced clinical genomics workflow. The combined solution for clinicians facilitates the ordering of appropriate testing which is then processed in onsite laboratories supported by Pierian.
• A report from the CDC found that mental health is the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths. From 2017 to 2019, there were 1,018 pregnancy-related deaths, and an underlying cause of death was identified for 987, or 97%, of those. In nearly 23% of cases, the cause was a mental health condition, including suicide and overdose/poisoning related to substance use disorder. When broken down into demographics, mental health conditions were the leading underlying cause of death among Hispanic and non-Hispanic White persons, at 24.1% and 34.8% respectively. The report also found that, among the 1,018 pregnancy-related deaths, 839 of them, or 84%, were preventable.
• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts introduced a new virtual primary care option starting on January 1 of next year, through partnerships with two of the biggest companies in the space: Carbon Health and Firefly Health The new "Virtual Care Team Feature," which will be included in the majority of Blue Cross MA commercial health plans, will allow members to receive virtual health care through a team that includes primary care providers who can treat certain mental health issues and provide health coaching. They will also be given a kit from their providers that may include certain medical devices, such as a blood pressure cuff, which will be tailored to the member's needs. Eligible Blue Cross members will be able to choose their designated virtual PCP through either company and each PCP will provide virtual primary care with integrated mental health and access to in-person care with in-network providers when needed. The company says there will be a $0 cost share for primary care and mental health visits with designated virtual care team clinicians.
• The American Diabetes Association announced a new initiative called the Amputation Prevention Alliance, designed to address the challenge of preventable amputation. The initiative is being launched with partners that include Abbott, developer of medical devices, including glucose monitors; Cardiovascular Systems, developer of solutions for treating peripheral and coronary artery disease; CLIschemia Global Society, a company whose mission is to improve quality of life by preventing amputations and death due to Critical Limb Ischemia; and Podimetrics, a care management company that is looking to eradicate diabetic foot ulcers. The Amputation Prevention Alliance will focus on addressing communities that face disproportionately high rates of amputations and amputated-related mortality, including people of color. 
• BHG Financial, a provider of financing and credit cards to healthcare professionals, partnered with Make-A-Wish, the global organization responsible for creating life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses, in an effort to bring awareness to the power and impact of a wish for children and families impacted by childhood cancer. As part of BHG's fundraising for National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, beginning September 23 and through September 30, BHG pledges to match every dollar donated to Make-A-Wish up to $100,000 to help bring added strength and courage to children battling cancer through the power of a wish.
• Spencer Health Solutions ,a digital health technology provider dedicated to improving patient engagement and medication adherence for clinical trials and commercial pharmaceutical programs, announced that Advantage Healthcare Services, a provider of mental health pharmacy support, has joined its Certified Pharmacy Partner Network to offer enhanced, in-home patient services for one of its largest commercial pharmaceutical programs. As part of the Spencer-Certified Pharmacy Partner Network, Advantage Health will work cooperatively with SHS, pharmaceutical manufacturers, payers, and healthcare systems on large-scale, post-approval monitoring sponsored by pharmaceutical companies that provide in-home support for patients living with severe and persistent behavioral health conditions.
• Paige, an end-to-end digital pathology solutions and clinical AI applications platform, and OptraSCAN, a producer of whole slide scanners, announced a partnership to streamline the adoption of digital pathology technology in the United States, European Union countries and United Kingdom. The companies aim to reduce barriers to digitizing glass pathology slides, which will in turn enhance workflows in pathology and oncology. Together, the companies will integrate Paige’s clinical AI applications and interoperable enterprise imaging platform with OptraSCAN’s digital pathology scanner to offer advanced end-to-end digital pathology workflow solutions. This provides a streamlined path for pathologists to adopt Paige’s leading suite of digital pathology applications, including the FDA-cleared FullFocus whole-slide image viewer and AI applications including Paige Prostate Suite and Paige Breast Suite alongside OptraSCAN’s affordable digital pathology scanners. OptraSCAN devices have 15 to 480 slide loading capabilities that digitize the glass slides at 40x in less than one minute per slide with patented composite imaging offering.
• Ketamine Wellness Centers, a ketamine therapy provider, expanded its partnership with the Veterans Administration Community Care Network to cover SPRAVATO treatments at select clinics. The partnership will allow VA-CCN patients experiencing treatment-resistant depression to access treatments with prior authorization from the VA-CCN at the following KWC clinics: Mesa, Tucson, Phoenix, Denver, Seattle, Reno, Las Vegas, Houston and Dallas. Previously, KWC and VA-CCN established a partnership to offer ketamine treatments to veterans at no out-of-pocket cost at their locations in Naperville, Illinois, and Burnsville, Minnesota. The program offers treatment to patients experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression and chronic pain who have experienced traditional medical treatments. KWC also offers a Hero Discount at clinics nationwide to cover partial out-of-pocket costs of the treatment for military veterans and first responders.
• Raziel Health, a platform that extends continuous medical services into the homes of chronically ill patients, in-patients with complex disease conditions, and those transitioning from a hospital to their homes, and Baptist Health South Florida announced a strategic partnership to deploy Raziel's remote patient monitoring services and distinctive continuous care platform to eligible Baptist Health South Florida patients with heart failure and/or complex hypertension, with an eye towards expansion of additional cardiac services.
• The American Association for Physician Leadership announced a partnership with the Michigan Health & Hospital Association that will make leadership education and training more easily accessible. The new MHA Physician Membership category focuses on issues pertaining to physicians, including physician integration and interaction within hospitals, healthcare systems and physician practices, and will include membership in AAPL.
• Siteman Cancer Center and University of Missouri Health Care’s Ellis Fischel Cancer Center announced a collaboration with the aim of improving cancer care throughout Missouri. A major focus of the collaboration involves scientists at both institutions teaming up on research projects and jointly pursuing competitively funded research grants, including those supported by the NCI of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The collaboration also will enhance efforts in cancer prevention. The collaboration will expand access to Siteman’s 8 Ways to Prevent Cancer campaign and widen distribution of information about Your Disease Risk, a tool that helps estimate an individual’s risk of developing cancer. The outreach program’s goals include expanding knowledge about and access to important screening tests, including those that can provide early detection of cervical, breast, prostate, colon and lung cancers.
• Haut.AI, a company that automates the collection of high-quality skin data, announced a partnership with System Akvile, a science-based skin health app with the goal to help people with acne prone skin. Haut.AI's AI algorithms scan data with the app, allowing it to assess up to 150 visual wellness biomarkers of the skin. This delivers a personalized analysis, tracks changes and gives users the knowledge to manage their skin health.
• Lung Cancer Network Malaysia, AstraZeneca and Qualitas Medical Group partnered with three tertiary private cancer facilities: Beacon Hospital, Subang Jaya Medical Centre, and Sunway Medical Centre, to provide free lung cancer screening to Malaysians. This partnership will further broaden the public’s access to receive cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence screening technology at primary care clinics and subsequently, be further investigated with a low-dose computed tomography scan at the three partner tertiary care hospitals.
• Madaket Health, a data management platform enabling automated information flow between healthcare payers and providers, announced the addition of state medical licensing and credentialing services coming to its platform in partnership with Licentiam, a company that streamlines the licensing process for all healthcare providers. The Licentiam partnership allows Madaket customers who are providers and administrative staff to work with a team of experienced medical regulatory and licensing experts to complete and maintain state licensing applications directly from the Madaket Provider Data Management platform.
• Rush University System for Health and Medtronic partnered to create an Innovation Hub designed to bring together the brightest minds from industry and academic medicine to lead research and develop technology and treatments for patients with complex digestive diseases, along with enhanced fellowship training at RUSH. The RUSH and Medtronic Digestive Diseases Innovation Hub will focus heavily on trialing new technologies for care while improving existing treatment options. For example, the Innovation Hub will look to provide cloud enablement within the endoscopy suite.
• Gilead Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company that is committed to advancing innovative medicines to prevent and treat life-threatening diseases, including HIV, viral hepatitis and cancer. announced a new public-private initiative with the Partnership for Health Advancement in Vietnam, a collaboration between Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. This multi-year initiative will have a phased approach to help address barriers that limit viral hepatitis diagnosis and care at primary healthcare facilities in Vietnam and the Philippines, two countries with high burdens of hepatitis B and C. Gilead and HAIVN will work together with a multi-stakeholder coalition, involving national ministries of health, academic stakeholders including the University of Philippines-Manila, provincial hospitals and primary healthcare centers to support this pilot program. The focus of the program will be on person-centered approaches in training non-specialist community-based healthcare providers in prevention and management of viral hepatitis, incorporating education, screening, diagnosis and linkage to care for hepatitis B and C into routine patient visits for at-risk populations. Gilead and HAIVN will also aim to strengthen primary healthcare systems including the referrals and counter-referral systems to enhance coordination between specialist and primary care. The two organizations will make the outcomes and learnings from the initiative public to contribute towards better understanding of adequate public health approaches to improve person-centered, community-based management of viral hepatitis.
• Curio Wellness, a medical cannabis company, announced its partnership with VMO-Ops, a business enterprise. The official partnership agreement between Curio Wellness and Village allows Curio to expand its cultivation and processing businesses providing targeted therapeutics and cGMP-certified medical cannabis products throughout Missouri, beginning in 2023. Curio’s experience as a trusted licensing partner has enabled the team to also secure an agreement with Village, and licensed brands like Viola, to produce their suite of products. Initial distribution of these products will begin through Village’s two Missouri dispensaries located in St. Louis, with broader distribution to follow.
• Amendola, a healthcare and technology public relations and marketing firm, announced that HHS Technology Group, a provider of data and analytics software and solutions for the public and private sector, has selected the firm as its agency of record to assist with messaging, marketing, and promotion of its technology solutions, including its recent collaboration on the COVID-19 Research Database designed to create a scalable, repeatable model accelerating real-world pandemic research.
• Caris Life Sciences, a molecular science and technology company actively developing and delivering innovative solutions to revolutionize healthcare, announced a partnership with Flatiron Health, a healthtech company dedicated to helping cancer centers thrive and deliver better care for patients, to integrate Caris' market leading molecular testing portfolio with OncoEMR, a cloud-based EMR tool. Caris' entire suite of molecular profile services, including whole exome and whole transcriptome sequencing, is now available for ordering within the OncoEMR network.
• Emyria, a clinical drug development and care delivery company, and CRO PsychoGenics,  a preclinical CRO with expertise in CNS and orphan disorders, agreed to a collaborate on preclinical trials of MDMA-inspired drug candidates. Along with its partner, the University of Western Australia, Emyria will screen five novel MDMA analogues from the biotech's proprietary library using PsychoGenics’ drug discovery platform, dubbed SmartCube. The platform harnesses artificial intelligence to extract and analyze behavioral and physiological data from mice. The data are then used to help predict the clinical effects of new drug compounds by comparing the novel drugs effects to reference drug libraries.

M&A

• Walgreens Boots Alliance made a majority investment in Shields Health, an integrated specialty pharmacy care company
• Sebastiani, an exploration stage company, entered into a definitive business combination agreement to acquire EvokAI Creative Labs, a MedTech AI-powered company dedicated to the development of technologies for the modern healthcare sector
• Zelis, a healthcare payments and pricing company, completed its acquisition of Payer Compass, a provider of reimbursement and claims pricing, administration, and processing solutions
• Veranex, a service provider dedicated to the medical technology industry, acquired Medidee, a MedTech consultancy company
• PSYC Corporation, a media company focused on the psychedelic and cannabis sectors, announced the signed a definitive agreement to acquire media-related assets from Technical420, provides research and analysis on cannabis stocks to investors, as well as certain assets of SB Partners, that include, but are not limited to, MushroomStocks.com and OnTheBids.com, as well as Technical420.com
• H-CYTE, a medical biosciences company, entered into a letter of intent to acquire SkinDisc, a tissue regeneration technology
• Advent Home Medical, a provider of home ventilator programs, home tracheostomy program and clinical respiratory services, acquired Aeratech Home Medical, a provider of home respiratory care and respiratory equipment technology  
• Insurance Technologies, a provider of sales and regulatory automation solutions for the life and annuity industry, acquired MyMedicareBot, a Medicare distribution software company
• UST HealthProof, a provide of core administrative solutions and Business-Process-as-a-Service for health plans, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Advantasure, a healthcare technology and business process services company
• Optimind, a provider of psychedelic therapies focused on improving the everyday quality of life for individuals who suffer from mental illnesses or disabilities, acquired MindSetting Institute, a provider of psychedelic enhanced therapy training and educational programming.
• UptimeHealth, which provides medical device companies with automation tools and predictive analytics, announced a partnership with Dental Whale, which helps dentists operate dental practices more efficiently by saving money on purchases, marketing to new patients, expanding through acquisitions, improving patient experience, and increasing office efficiency. Through this partnership, clients will be able to harness state-of-the-art asset management for their devices while utilizing the Dental Fix Rx national network of locally owned and operated industry professionals for their equipment service needs.
• PracticeTek, a provider of software and payments solutions to the retail healthcare market, acquired GrowthPlug, a practice marketing platform
• BlackRock Long Term Private Capital, a  private equity firm, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority interest in Paradigm Oral Health, an oral surgery and digital dentistry platform 

Funding Roundup

• Halo, a platform for connecting scientists with corporate R&D teams, raised $2.6 million
• Scratch Financial, which allows patients to sign up for plans to pay off their medical bills in installments, raised $35 million
• Bicycle Health, a virtual opioid addiction service, raised $5 million
• Zócalo Health, a healthcare service designed for Latino patients, raised $5 million
• Moat Biotechnology, a clinical development stage company developing novel mucosal vaccines for Covid-19 and beyond, raised an undisclosed amount of funding
• Dyania Health, developer of natural language processing technology to drive better outcomes in clinical research, raised $5.3 million
• Remedial Health, which sells medicine wholesale to pharmacies and hospitals in Africa, raised $4.4 million
• Tuned, a hearing health benefit company, raised $2.5 million
• Lyfegen, a healthtech SaaS company driving the transition from volume to value-based healthcare for high-cost drugs, raised $8 million
• Embody, a medical device company focused on soft tissue healing, raised $10.4 million
• Immunify.Life, a healthcare ecosystem secured by blockchain, raised $2 million
• Medical 21, a medtech company aiming to transform heart bypass surgery with a revolutionary artificial graft, raised up to $20 million
• Incepto, a platform that offers doctors and hospitals access to a portfolio of solutions based on artificial intelligence, raised €27 million
• Lactiga Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on improving the quality of life of patients with primary immunodeficiency diseases, raised $1.6 million
• Octarine Bio, a synthetic biology company, raised €2 million 
• Kalogon, developer of a smart church to prevent pressure injuries in wheelchair users, raised $3.3 million
• Surge, which combines a biological analysis of the immune system with an AI algorithm, raised $2.6 million
• Nodal, provider a surrogacy matching platform, raised $4.7 million
• Ceribell, developer of a rapid response electroencephalography system to make diagnosing neurological patients more efficient, raised $50 million
• Pattern Health, a no-code digital health creation platform, raised $3.3 million
• Leuko, developer of at-home noninvasive white blood cell monitoring, raised $5 million
• Therabody, a wellness technology company, raised $165 million

(Image source: deloitte.com)