Digital health news, funding round up in the prior week; October 24, 2022

Steven Loeb · October 24, 2022 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/5526

Eli Lilly acquired Akouos; Tempus raised $275M; Calm launched Calm Health

Top Health News

  • Pfizer asked the Supreme Court to decide whether a proposed program to help Medicare patients pay out-of-pocket costs for its tafamidis drugs—Vyndaqel and Vyndamax—would violate U.S. anti-kickback laws. An HHS opinion in 2019 ruled against Pfizer, finding that such an arrangement would break a criminal ban on financial support to patients for a federally reimbursed healthcare product. Pfizer sued to overturn the ruling, but two courts have since sided with the U.S. government. As Pfizer sees it, the case represents “an optimal vehicle” for the Supreme Court to address the HHS’ “staggeringly overbroad” interpretation of U.S. anti-kickback laws, the company said in its petition. But critics have viewed Pfizer’s case as an attempt to weaken the HHS’ safeguards against illegal payment to Medicare patients.
  • The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, the research and development arm of the U.S. Intelligence community, Ginkgo Bioworks, a horizontal platform for cell programming and Draper, a nonprofit engineering innovation firm, announced the completion of IARPA's Finding Engineering-Linked Indicators program. The program was created to augment and improve current biodetection and biosurveillance capabilities. Specifically, Ginkgo has developed a suite of new computational tools and Draper has developed a new experimental platform to help detect and identify when samples include genetically engineered biological systems.
  • Redox, a company setting the stage for composable healthcare, partnered with Intelligent Medical Objects, a healthcare data enablement company to standardize clinical data from diverse systems into consistent, structured, clinically validated terminology including comprehensive mapping to major global coding systems. Now healthcare companies can spend more time building improved patient and clinician experiences by eliminating the lengthy and taxing process of combining multiple point solutions.
  • Complia Health, a home health and hospice technology provider, announced their selection by Comprehensive Nursing Services, a home healthcare provider of pediatric care, to provide scalable proven EMR solutions through their ContinuLink platform. The long-term partnership, which includes Mobile Edge and EMMA (the Electronic Medical Management Assistant), will simplify processes, and create efficiencies across clinical, financial, and back-office operations for all business lines.
  • Vyripharm Enterprises, a biopharmaceutical/biotechnology company, and ABB Robotics, company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future, signed an agreement towards the development of an automated laboratory testing platform. The platform will enable quality control of raw material to novel pharmaceutical compounds using a unique and comprehensive platform developed to allow certification of the tested samples against established standards. This fully automated robotic platform will be the first of its kind and will support the capture of data for use in research and development efforts within industry and health institutions.
  • J2 Medical Supply, a manufacturer and distributor of critical healthcare supplies, announced a three-year contract with Yankee Alliance, an affiliated network of 18,500 members across the country. This contract provides unique value to the Yankee Alliance members, offering high-quality products at competitive pricing, along with inventory assurance for committed volumes on products such as nitrile exam gloves, facial protection, disposable protective apparel, crutches and walkers, and antigen rapid test kits.
  • PhysicianOne Urgent Care, provider of walk-in and virtual urgent care for non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries, announced that it will begin using Augnito, a medical voice-to-text AI solution for clinical documentation. PhysicianOne Urgent Care seeks to transform its clinical workflows to reduce administrative burden on providers and improve the quality of clinical documentation, which improves ROI for healthcare organisations in the long-term. Augnito's medical voice recognition solution will be used by providers across all of PhysicianOne Urgent Care's 20-plus U.S. locations.
  • Connect2MyDoctor, a virtual care platform in Asia and Middle East, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Sharjah to exchange scientific and medical expertise. The institutions have agreed to collaborate on research activities that will extend to areas such as data collection, analysis and joint submissions to journals, conferences and scientific venues. The agreement says tele-rehabilitation of identified patients will happen through Connect2MyDoctor’s OmniROM module. This will enable physiotherapists to remotely monitor and measure a patient’s recovery/rehabilitation.
  • Vaccine alliance Gavi announced that it signed an agreement with Moderna related to the supply of COVID-19 vaccines to lower-income countries supported by the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment. Under the agreement, Gavi and Moderna agree to cancel remaining volumes under their previous agreement in 2022, and establish a framework for lower-income countries to access doses of variant-containing vaccine beginning in 2023. Gavi will have the right to access up to 100 million VCV doses, at Moderna's lowest tiered price, on behalf of AMC participants.
  • Takara Bio USA, a life science reagent and instrument company, partnered with BioExcel Diagnostics, a high complexity laboratory specialized in molecular diagnostics and clinical genomics, to develop and validate a new high-throughput and comprehensive method for detecting syndromic-based infectious diseases. The method employs real-time PCR automation technology and reagents from Takara Bio to detect viruses, bacteria, fungi, and antimicrobial resistance genes specific to the contributing pathogen. Data generated allows clinicians to quickly determine the best route of treatment for their patients.
  • Grace Cottage Family Health & Hospital formed a new partnership with Dartmouth Health Connected Care  to provide acute care TeleEmergency services to Grace Cottage patients. Through this partnership, Dartmouth Health TeleED can quickly bring additional board-certified emergency physicians and experienced emergency nurses to a patient’s bedside through live interactive audiovisual technology and collaborate with the local clinical team, including prompt assessment and treatment recommendations.
  • TempStars, a dental temping and hiring service, announced a partnership with Dentist Insurance Services, a commercial insurance agency run by and for dentists. The partnership will provide dentists and dental hygienists a savings 5% on their dental malpractice insurance premiums with DIS and their endorsed carrier The Doctors Company, who operate in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Illinois, among other states.
  • Meditation app Calm launched Calm Health, which is aimed at payers, providers and self-insured employers, and will offer clinical condition-specific mental health programs as well as tools to support provider and caregiver communication and medication tracking. Users will be able to access Calm Health through their health insurance plan, care provider, or employer; once they have access, users will be prompted to complete an in-app survey to identify the care plan that meets their specific needs. Calm Health’s clinical programs will support users experiencing mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, offering them guided plans to prepare for therapy or utilize in-between therapy sessions. Calm's mental health programs are written by licensed clinicians and narrated by the voices of Calm. The programs adhere to the principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. The company plans to add additional programs in the future to provide mental health support for physical conditions such as hypertension, obesity, heart disease, and cancer.
  • HHS announced another $15 million in grants from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which will be awarded to states to develop and transform Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs). While all 50 states are eligible, so far 24 have received a one-year planning grants from HHS, have been selected; of those, 10 have received money for their CCBHCs: Michigan, Missouri, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon and Pennsylvania. Of the remaining 40 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, another 15 will will be awarded up to $1 million for one-year planning grants in 2023, and from those that submit a successful demonstration application, another 10 will be selected to be in the actual CCBHC demonstration, which will start in 2024. The CCBHC planning phase assists states in certifying clinics as CCBHCs, establishing prospective payment systems for Medicaid reimbursable services, and preparing an application to participate in a four-year demonstration program.
  • Miku, a company in the pediatric wellness space that uses a contactless respiratory & sleep monitoring system, in collaboration with Boston Children's Hospital, announced an epilepsy research study using an investigational monitoring device. In early 2021, Miku and Dr. Tobias Loddenkemper of Boston Children's Hospital participated in The Epilepsy Foundation's Shark Tank Competition, which seeks the most innovative ideas in epilepsy treatment and care. In total, 25 individuals or teams entered the competition from the United States and seven other countries around the world. Miku and Dr. Loddenkemper were proudly named the Investment Prize Winner and awarded $250,000 to kick off the study. This research aims to monitor and ultimately detect Generalized Tonic-Clonic Seizures, which occur in 25% of all patients with seizures and are the most common type of generalized seizure in adults. These seizures are also a major risk factor for sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.
  • The Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC) partnered with PerkinElmer's Horizon Discovery to develop and manufacture somatic reference samples (SRSs) to simplify and support validation of next generation sequencing (NGS)-based cancer diagnostics. The SRSs are expected to be commercially available by early 2024, following a rigorous characterization and validation process in collaboration with the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). This partnership is part of MDIC’s Somatic Reference Samples (SRS) Initiative, a collaborative effort to improve the accuracy of next generation sequencing-based cancer diagnostics, and create publicly available reference samples and a global genomic data resource library. These tools could be used for diagnostic development, regulatory submissions, reimbursement decisions, and other applications across the total product life cycle of NGS-based diagnostics.
  • Aptar Digital Health, part of Aptar Pharma, a provider of drug delivery and active material science solutions and services, announced a strategic partnership with the Chiesi Group, an international research-focused biopharmaceutical and healthcare group, to bring to market a disease management platform for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The partnership will leverage Aptar’s recently announced Disease Management Platform that is designed to empower patients to better understand and take control of their disease, provide healthcare professionals with data-driven insights to better manage their patients and build evidence for emerging reimbursement arrangements in the field of digital health for asthma and COPD. The platform offers a comprehensive set of services and solutions aimed at bringing together both the pharmacological and behavioral aspects of managing respiratory diseases, such as adherence monitoring, lung function assessment, reporting symptoms, identifying disease triggers and communication with care teams and health coaches. The partnership initially focuses on Europe, with potential future expansions to other geographies.
  • ProPhase Labs, a growth-oriented and diversified diagnostics, genomics and biotech company, announced that its subsidiary, ProPhase Precision Medicine, signed a Memorandum Of Understanding with G42 Healthcare, an Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence health-tech company, to explore several collaborative opportunities including, but not limited to, genomic sequencing, artificial intelligence, sharing of genomic data insights, and obtaining certain advanced certifications. ProPhase and G42 Healthcare have also entered into an initial agreement with the goal of significantly synergizing the companies’ genomic sequencing capabilities to support further development and globalization of their healthcare offerings.
  • Blue Earth Diagnostics, a company that develops and commercializes PET radiopharmaceuticals, announced the signing of a data-sharing agreement with Siemens Healthineers and the University Hospital of the Technical University of Munich for anonymized 18F-rhPSMA-7.3 clinical data and images. Siemens Healthineers plans to evaluate the data to enhance its analytics and artificial intelligence-based algorithms for prostate cancer across its advanced PET/CT imaging software. 18F-rhPSMA-7.3 is an investigational radiohybrid Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen-targeted PET imaging agent in development by Blue Earth Diagnostics for diagnostic imaging of newly diagnosed and biochemically recurrent prostate cancer.
  • GE Healthcare and digital pathology workflow solution Tribun Health entered a collaboration with the intent to provide digital pathology departmental solutions that give healthcare providers a more holistic view of patient records. The alliance intends to bring a data management solution by interfacing Tribun’s Health Suite data into GE Healthcare’s solution, such as GE Healthcare’s vendor neutral archive, Edison Datalogue. It is expected to focus on making digital pathology images and results an integrated part of the imaging patient record within the VNA; the availability of more accurate pathology reports in less time, created with the assistance of artificial intelligence provided by Tribun’s Health Suite; and fostering collaboration among pathologists and clinicians through availability of data in a consolidated location. Having pathology information is critical, especially in oncology, to enable collaboration, while improving the speed of diagnosis.
  • Spring Health, a mental health solution for employers and health plans, announced an agreement with Moda Health, a regional health plan providing health insurance to employers across Idaho, Alaska, Texas, Oregon, and Washington, to deliver measurement-based mental health care to select employer groups through Moda's innovative Behavioral Health 360 platform. The new partnership expands Spring Health's offering into the payer and health plan market. Spring Health will deliver mental health benefits to more than 100,000 members and their dependents, aged six and above, whose employer is enrolled in Moda Health's insurance offering.
  • BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a medical technology company, and Magnolia Medical Technologies, announced a co-exclusive commercial agreement aimed at helping U.S. hospitals reduce blood culture contamination to help improve testing accuracy and ultimately improve clinical outcomes. Under the agreement, BD and Magnolia Medical will both co-sell and co-market Magnolia Medical's Steripath and Steripath Micro Initial Specimen Diversion Device® platforms, complementing the BD specimen collection portfolio, including BD Vacutainer® push button and BD Vacutainer® UltraTouch™ blood collection sets.
  • Syntegra, a provider of synthetic data generation, and the Institute for Health Metrics, a not-for-profit hospital data collaborative, announced an expanded partnership to enable easier and faster access to millions of privacy-guaranteed electronic health records for life sciences companies. This strategic partnership combines the privacy-preserving capabilities of Syntegra's synthetic data engine with IHM's vast data repository to provide access to high-fidelity, patient-level data that would not otherwise be available. Organizations can access more granular data, and share it more broadly without the privacy risk of protected health information. This unprecedented level of data access enables the life sciences industry to drive innovation and accelerate the development of new treatments for patients.
  • GI OnDEMAND, a multidisciplinary virtual integrated care platform for gastroenterology,  announced a partnership with Trellus Health, the creator of the leading digitally delivered Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) resilience driven self-management solution for all patients with IBD. GI OnDEMAND, a joint venture between the American College of Gastroenterology and Gastro Girl, will now offer access to the Trellus scientifically validated resilience training and self-management programs, to all GI OnDEMAND and ACG members nationwide. Members will now be able to offer their patients the much-needed holistic wrap around services to help support providers and patients in between office visits wherever and whenever they need it. Trellus coordinates and delivers personalized behavioral, emotional, and nutritional support to patients with IBD via digital solutions and remote access to an expert resilience training team of coaches, dietitians, and nurse educators all while leaving the clinical care to their health care providers. The suite of Trellus programs empowers patients to live healthier and more fulfilling lives, effectively self-manage their condition, adhere to treatment plans, and engage in effective interactions with their health care team.
  • Ricoh USA, provider of digital services, information management, and print and imaging solutions designed to support digital transformation and optimize business performance, announced that CHRISTUS Health, a Catholic, faith-based, not-for-profit health system, is optimizing and expanding its direct mail services to reach more customers and increase patient engagement with Ricoh. Together with Ricoh, CHRISTUS Health Print Services is already providing 26-31% cost savings to their interdepartmental customers compared to external vendors, equivalent to $685,000, and combined print and mail processing cost savings are more than 35%. CHRISTUS Health Print Services is leveraging Ricoh Professional Services including Business Consulting, Wide Format Elite Access, RICOH Pro C9210 color sheet-fed production printers, and the RICOH Pro TF6251 wide format printer with Colex finishing. The partnership has resulted in new applications that directly enhance patient engagement and reduce costs for producing ADA-compliant/braille facility signage and other communications materials.
  • HSBlox, a provider of value-based care program administration in healthcare, and global digital engineering services company Apexon partnered to provide the infrastructure necessary for payers and providers to implement VBC. The partnership combines HSBlox's value-based administration (VBA) platform with Apexon's visualization data analytics platform services. The combined technology and support offerings will allow payers and providers to align resources under value-based programs and alternative payment models.
  • BeeKeeperAI, a provider of sightless computing on protected data, announced that it worked with scientists from Novartis Biome’s Evidence Lab and the University of California, San Francisco to train and validate an algorithm to predict instances of a rare childhood condition using real patient data from health records. This project marks the first time that confidential computing technology has been leveraged to support sightless computation by an algorithm against protected health information.The Novartis Biome Evidence Lab was developed in collaboration with health systems and data providers as a space for health tech companies to test their digital solutions and identify ways to optimize and scale their offerings. BeeKeeperAI’s zero trust architecture supports sightless computing of algorithms against protected information. It uses advanced encryption within secure computing enclaves to enable data stewards and algorithm developers to collaborate without exposing the data or revealing important IP. The platform eliminates reliance on data deidentification or difficult to enforce contractual agreements that typically govern access to protected health information
  • Neurovine, a provider of EEG-based cognitive pacing solutions, announced they are partnering with Atlético Ottawa to optimize the performance of their athletes. Neurovine has recently launched their wellness tool to support personalized brain health for athletes. This solution supports player mental health while optimizing their physical and cognitive activity. They've recently partnered with Atlético Ottawa, the nation's capital professional soccer club operating in the Canadian Premier League, to support their athletes' brain health.
  • Stellar Health, a healthcare technology company changing the way health insurers and providers activate value-based care arrangements, announced the expansion of their value-based care initiative with Highmark Inc. upon results of its initial program that improved quality and chronic condition management across Highmark's Medicare Advantage and Commercial lines of business. Stellar announced the collaboration in 2021 to help Highmark accelerate new payment models and value-based care (VBC) for independent practices in Pennsylvania. This initiative, called True Performance Lite, was an extension of Highmark's existing True Performance PCP Suite Program aimed at serving larger providers.
  • BioSkryb Genomics, a developer of scientifically advanced single-cell analysis molecular tools, announced a multi-year agreement with Cooper Genomics, a reproductive health company, to license BioSkryb’s proprietary genomic amplification technology. Cooper Genomics will utilize the BioSkryb technology to enhance their preimplantation genetic testing capabilities. The agreement will also permit Cooper Genomics to market and distribute the BioSkryb technology for the PGT and women’s reproductive health market globally.
  • ZeOmega, a population health management organization, announced home healthcare delivery provider CCS selected its Jiva care management platform to support and expand its established collaborate care solution. The partnership, which reinforces ZeOmega's expansion in the in-home care market, brings integration that coalesces care utilization data and device data monitoring processes to help improve clinical outcomes for people coping with chronic disease and reduce costs of care for health plans and employer groups.
  • Aural Analytics, a clinical-grade speech analytics company, announced a partnership with HitCheck to solve in-game concussion protocol decision-making. HitCheck’s cognitive assessment application tracks individuals’ unique performance over time and screens for sudden changes after a potential brain injury has occurred. Aural Analytics’ clinical-grade speech analytics are now embedded into HitCheck’s app, enriching the assessments that coaches, athletes, medical personnel and others rely on to assess an athlete’s ability to return to play.
  • Andor Health, a company that harnesses machine and human intelligence to configure the way care teams connect and collaborate, partnered with OneMed to orchestrate a longitudinal, patient-centric approach to care. ThinkAndor enables OneMed to configure direct to consumer digital encounters empowering patients with on-demand access to care through an AI-powered digital front door. ThinkAndor's state-of-the-art digital front door capabilities provide a concierge approach to digital health where a virtual assistant guides OneMed patients through virtual encounters across all care settings including ambulatory and acute. The digital front door provides patients with direct access to care where they can connect in real-time with care team members and downstream specialists.
  • Wellness technology Therabody partnered with smart ring company ŌURA. Wellness tech leader Therabody is known for innovating actionable solutions that improve health and well-being. ŌURA is the company behind the Oura Ring — the smart ring that delivers personalized health data, insights, and daily guidance. Through this collaboration, the two are providing Oura members and Therabody users with a smart way to recover by combining effective restorative therapies with real-time biometric data. The Oura Ring is now the first third-party product available for purchase in Therabody’s more than 20 retail and Reset locations across the U.S. Shoppers will be able to try on, size, and order all Oura Ring Gen3 designs and finishes in person, and learn from Therabody store representatives about the synergy between the two brands to optimize sleep and recovery. Also for the first time, Therabody is licensing its proprietary TheraMind sound therapy content to ŌURA. Oura members will be able to see the immediate effects that TheraMind content has on heart rate, heart rate variability, and skin temperature trends through post-meditation biometric data summaries in the Oura App.
  • Pearl, a dental AI solution, and SOTA Imaging, a manufacturer of dental imaging hardware and software, announced a partnership to integrate Pearl’s FDA-cleared Second Opinion real-time clinical pathology detection artificial intelligence solution with SOTA’s popular SOTA Cloud dental imaging software. Native support for Pearl’s chairside AI within SOTA’s cloud-based imaging interface means that, for the first time, dentists in the United States can conveniently capture, display, and perform AI-assisted clinical evaluation of dental radiographs within a single software platform.
  • DentalMonitoring, a company that has pioneered remote monitoring and artificial intelligence in the field of orthodontics, partnered with People + Practice, a full-service digital marketing firm exclusively for dentists and orthodontists. This collaboration will help providers utilize remote monitoring to offer and, importantly, promote the convenience and quality that their evolving patient population desires in the treatment experience.
  • Learning management and talent development software provider Schoox announced a new partnership with StateFoodSafety, an online food safety education company, to meet the compliance needs of its customers in the restaurant, hospitality, and food retail industries. StateFoodSafety creates and publishes technology-enhanced food safety training and certification programs that deliver superior value to industries where food safety is critical to ensuring community health and safety. Through this partnership, Schoox customers now have access to StateFoodSafety’s online mobile responsive courses, which are customized to comply with multiple health departments regulations through the Schoox platform. They are also built to meet all state and local requirements and are available in eight languages.
  • Novavax, a biotechnology company dedicated to developing and commercializing next-generation vaccines for serious infectious diseases, announced that the Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine, Adjuvanted (NVX-CoV2373) has received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to provide a first booster dose at least six months after completion of primary vaccination with an authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccine to individuals 18 years of age and older for whom an FDA-authorized mRNA bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccine is not accessible or clinically appropriate, and to individuals 18 years of age and older who elect to receive the Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine, Adjuvanted because they would otherwise not receive a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
  • Allergan Aesthetics, an AbbVie company, announced its fourth-consecutive year of partnership with Girls Inc. to support the engagement of high school aged girls interested in exploring a future in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). This two-pronged effort aims to educate on the impact of underrepresentation of female and diverse voices in the STEM field through a social media campaign. In addition, Girls Inc. girls nationwide will engage with and learn from the experiences and stories of successful, female role models on the 'Breaking Barriers in STEM' virtual panel.
  • American Molecular Laboratories, a molecular diagnostic and biotech development company, selected 1health.io, a software company revolutionizing the way laboratories expand testing into the at-home markets, to deliver its new lab tests direct-to-consumers. The new partnership between 1health and American Molecular Laboratories will enable AML to establish a market presence, selling its food sensitivity, food allergy, and other patent-pending tests, into the direct-to-consumer lab testing market.
  • Union Bank of Nigeria announced the first banking partnership with telehealth services company Mobihealth International. Mobihealth’s mission ‘to provide everyone with timely access to quality and affordable. This partnership is part of Union Bank’s commitment to enabling success for its customers. By leveraging Mobihealth’s solutions to deliver real-time, enhanced telemedicine and remote patient monitoring solutions geared towards providing affordable, all-inclusive clinic experiences, the Bank aims to expand access to high-quality and convenient healthcare services for its customers at discounted rates.
  • Gainwell Technologies, an innovator in healthcare technology solutions, designed and implemented Kansas’ new and completely modular Medicaid platform. The configurable, nine-module system will transform how Kansas delivers healthcare solutions. The groundbreaking, cloud-based platform uses a service-oriented architecture to seamlessly connect all modules in a secure and dynamic environment. This comprehensive solution gives Kansas Medicaid the agility and interoperability it needs to deliver high-quality healthcare services while reducing costs. From members and providers to managed care organizations and state agencies, this transformative system empowers stakeholders to get vital services more quickly and efficiently to drive better health outcomes.
  • Cleveland Clinic and IBM began deployment of the first private sector onsite, IBM-managed quantum computer in the United States. The IBM Quantum System is to be located on Cleveland Clinic’s main campus in Cleveland. The first quantum computer in healthcare, anticipated to be completed in early 2023, is a key part of the two organizations’10-year partnership aimed at fundamentally advancing the pace of biomedical research through high-performance computing. Announced in 2021, the Cleveland Clinic-IBM Discovery Accelerator is a joint center that leverages Cleveland Clinic’s medical expertise with the technology expertise of IBM, including its leadership in quantum computing.
  • Innovator in laboratory digital transformation, Scitara, announced a new partnership with Veeva, the global leader in cloud software for the life sciences industry. The partnership will bring together Scitara’s strength in lab instrument solutions with Veeva’s quality assurance and quality control software to help companies improve data integrity, maximize lab productivity, and accelerate batch release. Scitara is transforming instrument and application integration throughout the laboratory ecosystem with its scientific integration platform SIP, a peer-to-peer iPaaS for science. Scitara’s SIP and flagship technology, digital lab exchange DLX, are complementary to Veeva Vault LIMS, a modern laboratory information management system (LIMS) that streamlines sample tracking, test execution, and lab processes to optimize for real-time batch release.
  • Abdul Latif Jameel Health, part of international diversified family business Abdul Latif Jameel, and Wellesta Holdings, a company providing marketing and commercialization support to the healthcare sector in South East Asia, India & partnering in MENA, announced a new agreement for the marketing and distribution of the Butterfly iQ+ point-of-care ultrasound device in The Republic of India. As part of its new agreement with Abdul Latif Jameel Health, Wellesta will register Butterfly iQ+ in India and start promoting and selling the product in the country in the fourth quarter of 2022, bringing this technology to a potential 1.2 million registered physicians in the country.
  • Decode Health, a healthcare AI company that enables a partner ecosystem to innovate and solve data challenges involving disease risk, announced a new phase of its collaboration with Quest Diagnostics, a provider of diagnostic information services, to empower drug and diagnostics research and development in the growing fields of metabolic disease and autoimmune neurology. In earlier phases of the collaboration, the two parties developed RNA (transcriptome) sequencing capabilities based on both parties' next-generation sequencing, analytics and clinical expertise. In this latest phase, the parties have developed a national platform for collecting and storing deidentified consented specimens from individuals participating in research sponsored by pharmaceutical, academic research and patient engagement organizations. The platform includes Quest's 2,100 patient service centers as well as its ExamOne mobile in-home phlebotomy team and a biobank at its advanced laboratory in Memphis, Tenn.
  • GE Healthcare and AMC Health announced a collaboration that allows clinicians to offer Remote Patient Monitoring as a virtual care solution that extends patient care outside the hospital to the home environment. The combination of GE Healthcare’s acute patient monitoring capabilities in the hospital setting, along with AMC Health’s expertise in RPM solutions leveraging an FDA Class II 510(k)-cleared platform with analytics will extend the continuum of non-acute care for patients after being discharged from the hospital.
  • AccurKardia, a software company that provides clinical-grade, device agnostic, automated electrocardiogram analytics, announced it will collaborate with Mawi, a medtech provider of medical grade wearables in the cardiac space, to integrate its proprietary ECG analytics into Mawi’s new cardiac monitoring watch. This collaboration highlights AccurKardia’s commitment to enabling world-class cardiac-care through remote patient monitoring solutions. As part of the collaboration, AccurKardia’s cutting edge innovation in device agnostic automated ECG analytics will complement Mawi’s proven expertise in designing, developing and deploying superior cardiac monitoring devices and wearables. This joint offering will enable the early detection of potentially life-threatening cardiovascular conditions that may be otherwise missed or diagnosed at a late stage.
  • Headway, a company that expands coverage for mental health, expanded to California. Part of the reasoning behind expanding to California are regulations that have been out in place in California that are meant to help patients seek care. Namely, the regulation requiring that patients have access to an initial in-network mental health care appointment within 10 days, something that was extended to to follow-up appointments as well in July of this year. Headway believes it can do better: the company says it can get patients into a virtual or in-person appointment in as little as 48 hours; and on average patients attend their first appointment less than 6 days after online booking, and patients get their second appointment in 7.6 days.
  • Citeline Connect, an end-to-end clinical trial engagement and recruitment solution, seeking to incorporate the patient voice during the design stage of custom clinical trial websites, partnered with Savvy Cooperative, a research platform that connects diverse patients and caregivers with accessible and interactive ways to share their experiences with health innovators, for patient feedback on the end-user experience. During the two-day project, 15 patients analyzed visuals and provided their feedback on different elements of a Citeline Connect clinical trial landing page, screening questions, and post-screen interactions. Specific feedback focused on trial details such as side effects, recruitment of diverse applicants, eligibility criteria, and patient-centric aspects such as plain language and user-friendliness.
  • Yhe Medicines Patent Pool announced the signing of a voluntary licensing agreement with Novartis AG to increase access to nilotinib, a twice daily oral medication used to treat chronic myeloid leukaemia, part of the World Health Organization Model List of Essential Medicines for treatment in adults and children of at least one year of age. Through this agreement, selected generic manufacturers will have the opportunity to develop, manufacture and supply generic versions of nilotinib in the licensed territory, subject to local regulatory authorisation. In particular, the licence includes seven middle-income countries, namely Egypt, Guatemala, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan, the Philippines and Tunisia, where patents on the product are pending or in force. This is the first licence that MPP has signed for a cancer treatment, and the first time a company is licensing a patented cancer medicine through a public health-oriented voluntary licensing mechanism.
  • Aidoc, a provider of healthcare AI solutions, announced a partnership with Us2.ai to bring its FDA-cleared and CE Marked AI algorithm to analyze and interpret echocardiograms into its proprietary aiOS. Within Aidoc's aiOS – an operating system that can orchestrate multiple independent AI algorithms across the native workflows of various specialties – the Us2.ai algorithm can deliver a fully automated and standardized echo report to sonographers and cardiologists.
  • TripleBlind, a privacy-enhancing computation company, announced a technology and go-to-market partnership with SEQSTER, a patient-centric healthcare data technology, to develop a privacy preserving end-to-end data solution. This new partnership will enable healthcare organizations and pharmaceutical companies to gain important insights from data and improve patient outcomes.
  • Rightway, a healthcare company reinventing care navigation and pharmacy benefits, announced an expansion to its strategic partnership with Healthy Business Group. This partnership combines the health plans available on the HealthEE by HBG store with Rightway to give everyone access to comprehensive benefits coverage and an effective, modern care navigation solution. By embedding Rightway in HBG's medical coverage choices, employees can receive the best health benefits and support to get the care they need–displaying the partnership's commitment to making healthcare more attainable for everyone, everywhere.
  • Chiesi, a research-focused biopharmaceutical and healthcare group, and Aptar Digital Health, part of Aptar Pharma, a provider of drug delivery and active material science solutions and services, announced a strategic partnership to bring to market Aptar’s recently announced Disease Management Platform for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This platform is designed to empower patients to better understand and take control of their disease and provide healthcare professionals with data-driven insights to better manage their patients and build evidence for emerging reimbursement arrangements in the field of digital health for asthma and COPD. The platform offers a comprehensive set of services and solutions aimed at bringing together both the pharmacological and behavioural aspects of managing respiratory diseases; these include adherence monitoring, lung function assessment, reporting symptoms and identifying disease triggers and communication with care teams and health coaches. The partnership initially focuses on Europe, with potential future expansions to other geographies.
  • Circles, an emotional support group platform, partnered with the Invisible Disabilities Association (IDA), a 501(c)3 nonprofit committed to raising awareness of and supporting individuals living with invisible illness and pain. Circles offers an opportunity for individuals to receive the support of peers, volunteers and professional therapists that understand their unique circumstances. By joining forces with Circles, the IDA will bolster its ability to encourage, educate, and connect people living with debilitating conditions.
  • Cerba, a specialty clinical pathology reference, and Taliaz, a digital health company dedicated to improving mental health disorders, announced a partnership to provide physicians with an AI-driven precision psychiatry solution that predicts treatment effectiveness in depression. By finding the right treatment from the very first prescription, the test helps physicians make the best therapeutic decision faster for their patients and can accelerate recovery of the 280 million people suffering from depression globally.
  • CliniOps announced a strategic partnership with My Total Health Inc., in partnership with Commonwealth Diagnostics International, in which the companies will collaborate to provide an end-to-end clinical trial solution for the gastroenterology community. Sponsors, and contract research organizations will be able to accelerate and streamline patient recruitment, enrollment, and trial management by leveraging resources from the three companies. This innovative offering will incorporate My Total Health's patient recruitment and enrollment solutions with the CliniOps platform for clinical data management, clinical operations, and regulatory submission.
  • Elation Health, a clinical-first technology company powering innovation in digital health and primary care, announced that AndHealth will continue its use of Elation's electronic health record platform to offer a robust set of in-app continuous care capabilities. AndHealth is a digital health leader in disease reversal with a focus on migraine and autoimmune conditions. The AndHealth care team uses the EHR platform alongside its proprietary technology to deliver and track best-in-class care for migraine, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, and psoriasis.
  • Siksika Health Services partnered with Orpyx Medical Technologies on a pilot program to help prevent and reduce the occurrence and recurrence of diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) for Siksika members with Type 2 Diabetes. Funding is through PATHWAYS Indigenous Health Collaborations, a partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd., and Bimaadzwin, with the support of GMAK Consulting. This 24-week pilot will assess the effectiveness of using a digital therapeutic solution, Orpyx SI Flex Sensory Insoles with Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) services, to prevent DFUs. The pilot will be available to 35 Siksika Nation members currently living with Type 2 Diabetes.
  • Navigate Wellbeing Solutions, a well-tech company, and findhelp, a public benefit corporation, announced a partnership to enhance access to social services for 1.7 million Navigate users and address health disparities—all at zero cost. Starting today, Navigate clients have the option to include a findhelp search on their employees' wellbeing platform. This fully integrated solution provides users the ability to enter their ZIP Code and receive personalized results for essential social services in their area—all through findhelp's social care network, findhelp.org.
  • Bolt Threads, a biotechnology company creating the next generation of advanced materials, and Ginkgo Bioworks announced a multi-project collaboration to increase the production efficiency and performance of Bolt's current portfolio as well as expand it by developing novel proteins for biomaterials. The first program in this collaboration aims to optimize the production efficiency of Bolt's Mylo material, a leather alternative made out of mycelium, the underground root-like system of fungi.
  • Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unanimously voted to add COVID-19 vaccines to the 2023 schedule of childhood and adult immunizations. The 15-0 vote by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices creates streamlined guidance for what shots people are able to receive and at what age but states and localities still have the power to decide whether to require vaccinations for school-age children. Washington D.C. is the only jurisdiction so far to mandate COVID vaccinations for students who are eligible for FDA-approved shots, but the city council could delay the Jan. 3, 2023 deadline.
  • Digitalis Ventures announced the closing of its fourth fund, totaling $300 million in commitments. The new capital will be invested in leading entrepreneurs and researchers developing breakthrough science and technology with the potential to transform patients' lives. Since its inception in 2016, Digitalis has invested in over 50 companies across the US, UK, and Europe. Representative investments include Good Therapeutics, whose lead conditionally active cytokine program was acquired earlier this year by Roche; GRO Biosciences, which is scaling the production of proteins that incorporate non-standard amino acids; Terray Therapeutics, which is developing an AI-powered small molecule discovery platform; Cayaba Care, which is providing home-based pregnancy care in communities that need it most; and findhelp, the leading technology provider of social care infrastructure in the US.
  • Northeast Georgia Health System partnered with Prinnovo, a company that specializes in working with independent, mid-sized health systems to establish, staff and manage their own health venture office, to launches Northeast Georgia Health Ventures, a new Ventures office to accelerate creative solutions to healthcare challenges.
  • Winn-Dixie, operator of grocery stores, liquor stores and in-store pharmacies, announced a donation of $40,000 to the Ochsner Cancer Institute. Winn-Dixie customers made donations at store locations throughout Louisiana to benefit crucial treatments offered by the healthcare institution. This contribution is made in support of the distinguished health system and its mission to provide expertly personalized care and state-of-the-art treatment for cancer patients in the Gulf Coast region. Winn-Dixie activated a statewide community donation program throughout the month of October to bolster its long-standing partnership with Ochsner Health. The initiative builds on the relationship between the grocer and the hospital to help expand the organization’s efforts in providing critical care to cancer patients and enrich the quality of life for individuals and families throughout the region.
  • Sound Physicians, a national healthcare organization providing services across the acute episode of care, and Quality Medical Consultants, a hospital-based physician network in Florida, launched a value-based care partnership. Together the two organizations will collaborate to improve patient outcomes and lower the cost of care in communities across Southeast Florida. Both physician-founded and led organizations, Sound and QMC, will leverage their combined strength to bring enhanced value to contracted at-risk partners and patients. Sound's expertise in process management, enabling technology, and physician education will join with QMC Cares exceptional care delivery model and regional market experience. The partnership is poised to enhance patient experience and create new efficiencies in the over two dozen hospital medicine programs within their alliance.
  • Tampa General Hospital and USF Health announced the opening of the TGH | USF Health Precision Medicine Biorepository. The Health Precision Medicine Biorepository is a secure facility that collects, catalogs and stores samples of biological material for medical research. A biorepository is like a high-tech library where researchers, physicians and scientists can access donated samples and correlating data for scientific study. Patients give permission for broad investigational use of their donated specimens and, to protect patient confidentiality, all genomic data is securely stored and only shared with other secure systems.
  • E-Home Household Service Holdings Limited, a provider of integrated household services in China, announced that the Company’s subsidiary Zhongrun, has outlined new strategic business plan to expand market coverage and medical product offerings via online and offline sales networks in Fujian province, China. Zhongrun also entered into a  partnership with traditional Chinese medicine company Huisong. Pursuant to the business plan, Zhongrun will expand from the existing pharmaceutical wholesale business to the retail market through both offline and online sales channels. Zhongrun will initiate in-depth cooperation with offline pharmaceutical chain stores and with major online pharmaceutical e-commerce platforms. At the same time, Zhongrun also plans to enter into the upstream production and processing business of pharmaceuticals, healthcare products and devices, to build up its own brand or original equipment manufacturer model. Pursuant to the partnership with Huisong, Zhongrun will help supply and distribute epidemic prevention and influenza drugs such as herba houttuyniae electuaries in China Fujian province produced by Huisong, one of the top 10 TCM exporters in China. The partnership is expected to generate annual sales of about RMB 20 million.
  • Methodist Hospitals, a community-based, not-for-profit health system with two full-service acute care facilities, has selected Infor to achieve its goal of a clinically connected healthcare platform in the cloud. By automating key business processes, including its supply chain, HR and finance functions, and moving operations to a more modern cloud architecture solution, Methodist will standardize and optimize across its health system to achieve strategic business goals and visions of providing the best possible care to the communities it serves. An Infor customer for more than 20 years, Methodist Hospitals knew that Infor was the right partner to help the organization navigate through this transition and get it up and running quickly. With Infor, the organization will be able to consolidate information across the network and deliver financial data to decision makers that will improve budget management, cost reduction strategies and forecast accuracy. In addition, they will be able to reduce reporting and custom interfaces, which will allow teams to be more productive and strategic and obtain valuable analytics without the use of consultants to build custom reports.

M&A

  • ABBVie acquired DJS Antibodies, a biotechnology company dedicated to discovering and developing antibody medicines that target difficult-to-drug disease-causing proteins
  • Cegedim, a technology and services company in the field of digital data flow management for healthcare ecosystems, acquired Clinityx, which specializes in unlocking the full potential of health data
  • Navvis, a value-based care platform, and Esse Health, an independent physician group, signed a definitive merger agreement to form a new healthcare company called Surround Care
  • Tivic Health Systems, a commercial-phase health technology company focused on bioelectronic medicine, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Reliefband product line for nausea treatment and all related assets from Reliefband Technologies
  • Indegene, a digital-first, life sciences commercialization company, acquired CultHealth, a full-service, healthcare marketing agency for many life sciences brands
  • EW Healthcare Partners, a private healthcare investment firm, acquired Germfree Laboratories, a manufacturer of turnkey, mobile and modular cleanrooms and biocontainment facilities, as well as the equipment and services required for critical environments
  • LOVE Pharma, a sexual Health and Wellness company, signed a non-binding Letter of Intent to acquire Naltrexone Therapeutics Inc., a pharmaceutical technology company with significant IP related to the transdermal delivery of FDA approved Naltrexone
  • Resource Label Group, a full-service provider of pressure sensitive labels, shrink sleeve and RFID/NFC technology, acquired MedLit Solutions, a pharmaceutical packaging and printing solution
  • BioIntelliSense, a continuous health monitoring and clinical intelligence company, acquired AlertWatch, a patient monitoring solution provides integration, data analysis and a display of contextual patient data
  • Eli Lilly and Company entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Akouos, a precision genetic medicine company that is developing a portfolio of adeno-associated viral gene therapies for the treatment of inner ear conditions
  • Cordis, a developer and manufacturer of interventional cardiovascular and endovascular technologies, acquired MedAlliance, which specializes in the development of technology and commercialization of advanced drug device combination products
  • Global Excel Management, a supplier of global healthcare risk management solutions, acquired a majority ownership in Blue Sky Health, a company providing a range of technology-based products and services to help manage medical events pre-flight, in-flight and on the ground
  • Emergex Vaccines Holding Limited, a clinical stage biotechnology company addressing major global infectious diseases through the development of fully synthetic CD8+ T cell Adaptive Vaccines, acquired the assets of Zosano Pharma Corporation, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company enabling the administration of therapeutics and other bioactive molecules
  • Ginkgo Bioworks, a horizontal platform for cell programming, completed its acquisition of Zymergen, a biotech company that designs and produces molecules, microbes and materials for diverse end markets
  • Amgen, a biopharmaceutical company, acquired ChemoCentryx, a biopharmaceutical company focused on orally administered therapeutics to treat autoimmune diseases, inflammatory disorders and cancer
  • CheckedUp, a providers of digital healthcare solutions at the point of care, acquired Health Media Network, a provider of digital healthcare solutions and wellness content to health venues
  • Verseon International Corporation, a drug design and development platform, acquired Edammo, a provider of real-time predictive analytics technology 

Funding Roundup

  • Redi.Health, a patient support platform, raised an undisclosed amount of funding
  • Eyenuk, an AI-based eye screening platform, raised $25 million
  • OSSIO, an orthopedic fixation technology company, raised $38.5 million
  • Inversago Pharma, a clinical stage biotech company with a portfolio of peripherally-acting CB1 inverse agonists, raised $95 million
  • Hetero, an Indian pharmaceutical company, acquired a brownfield manufacturing plant at Penjerla
  • Viome Life Sciences, an at-home diagnostics startup, raised $67 million
  • Inbound Health, an at-home health platform, launched with $20 million
  • Prenuvo, a provider of radiation-free whole body imaging for early detection of cancer and other diseases, raised $70 million
  • MRIMath, a startup that uses artificial intelligence to dramatically improve the detection of brain tumors, raised $200,000
  • Vitori Health, a health plan solution combining supply chain and plan elements to provide a high-performing alternative for employers and employees, raised $30 million
  • Generation Prime, a  IVF and related health services provider, raised $3 million
  • Feel, a digital health and wellness subscription brand offering a broad range of science-led, high-quality nutritional products, raised £10 million
  • TSOLife, a company that partners with senior living communities to provide a business intelligence platform using AI, raised $9 million
  • SURGE Therapeutics, which seeks to dramatically improve cancer patient survival by disrupting how, when, and where cancer immunotherapy is deployed, raised $26 million
  • Mindful Care, a company that seeks to make mental healthcare accessible and affordable, raised $7 million
  • BlueSkeye AI, a company that improves people’s quality of life through face and voice analysis technology, raised £3.4 million
  • Roobrik, provider of personalized decision support tools that can assist families who are navigating age-related changes, raised $3 million
  • MIDAS Healthcare Solutions, a developer of solutions to promote the safe use, handling, storage, return, and disposal of controlled substances and other dangerous medications in hospitals and other healthcare facilities, raised $1.19 million
  • Connective Health, an interoperability platform with clinical grade summaries and predictive insights that enable more integrated care between primary and specialty care, raised an undisclosed amount of funding
  • Limber Health, a company merging in-clinic and digital musculoskeletal care, raised $11 million
  • FEMSelect, a developer of a pelvic floor fixation device, raised $9 million
  • SubjectWell, an engagement platform for matching patients with chronic health conditions to new care options, raised $35 million
  • Axoft, developer of a bioinspired implant that mimics the soft tissues of the brain, raised $8 million
  • Tempus, an artificial intelligence and precision medicine company, raised approximately $275 million
  • CoachMePlus, provider of professional strength and conditioning coaches and fitness trainers, raised $1 million
  • Hey Jane, a telemedicine-based abortion care provider, raised $6.1 million
  • CitiusTech, provider of technology and consulting services to healthcare and life sciences companies, raised an undisclosed amount of funding
  • Engaged MD, a company serving both clinics and patients in the fertility space, raised $11 million
  • Noala, a digital speech and language therapy platform, raised $4 million
  • Soothe Healthcare, an Indian personal hygiene company and makers of Paree Sanitary Pads, raised ₹175 crores
  • anvajo, developer of a point-of-care fluid analysis tool, raised €17.7 million

(Image source: hbr.org)

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