Digital health news, funding round up in the prior week; April 24, 2023

Noah Medical raised $150M; Gilde Healthcare closed a €600M fund; Merck bought Prometheus Biosciences

Top Health News

• Moderna announced a partnership with IBM on Thursday, in which the company will "explore next generation technologies," such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence, to "advance and accelerate mRNA research and science." As per this agreement, Moderna scientists will get access to IBM's technology, including its quantum computing systems, as well as expertise in order to Moderna explore life sciences use-cases powered by quantum technologies. Moderna will also participate in the IBM Quantum Accelerator program and the IBM Quantum Network.  In addition, they will develop AI models for mRNA medicine design, applying MoLFormer. Moderna will be to use MoLFormer to help optimize lipid nanoparticles, which encapsulate and protect mRNA as it travels within the body, and mRNA, which acts as instructions to cells in order to fight disease. Under this initiative, Moderna and IBM will combine formulation discovery with generative AI to design mRNA medicines with optimal safety and performance.
• Verizon announced a partnership with the Cleveland Clinic to deploy a private 5G network at a new hospital being built in Mentor, Ohio. Through this partnership, the two entities say they will "develop ways to utilize this technology to enhance patient care, provide caregivers with greater connectivity to deliver that care and elevate the patient and visitor experience." Some of the outlined potential use cases for the 5G network include patient check-in kiosks, enhanced digital displays, in-room infotainment for patients, and asset tracking. It can also be applied to AR/VR adoption for clinician education, patient education, assisted surgery, and imaging.
• Hint Connect, a DPC network that leverages direct contracting, announced a partnership with Eden Health, a national virtual and in-person primary care provider. Going forward, when employers or plans offer Hint Connect, members can choose between a fully virtual primary care model or an in-person/virtual hybrid based on their personal preference, geography, and health needs. If they select the in-person/virtual hybrid model, they and their families register with Hint Connect and choose a nearby DPC location.
• CVS Accountable Care Organization, a division of the CVS Health family of businesses, announced it entered into a collaboration with Catholic Health and Catholic Health Physician Partner's ACO to expand value-based care and health care access for Medicare beneficiaries across the Catholic Health Physician Network in the New York area. The partnership builds on Catholic Health's ACOs program, improving care for over 40,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Nassau and Suffolk counties and saving millions of dollars by meeting quality and total cost of care goals.
• RevSpring, a provider of healthcare engagement and payment solutions, was selected by the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company as its payment partner for a new program with U.S. pharmacies. RevSpring, in an application of its PersonaPay payment portal, will orchestrate pharmacy billing and give participating pharmacies an efficient way to track prescription sales through its 12-month payments tracking dashboard. The new program extends the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company mission to fundamentally change how the pharmacy industry operates by making public health as important as the bottom line. The program is designed to keep drug costs as low as possible for consumers, while delivering more revenue to participating pharmacies.
• Cancer Support Community San Francisco Bay Area announced a new initiative to improve access to cancer support and education, among individuals residing in underserved Bay Area communities. In a highly unique approach to connecting with medically underserved people, Cancer Support Community is working with Equiva, a digital health platform provider that recently launched its Affordable Connectivity Program-centric solution. Launched by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in December 2021, the ACP is a $14.2 billion benefit program that helps ensure households can afford the broadband they need for work, school, healthcare and more.
• Prescryptive Health, a healthcare technology company on a mission to rewrite the script for the U.S. pharmaceutical market, announced that more than 60,000 pharmacies nationwide are available to healthcare consumers on its web-based mobile prescription management app, myPrescryptive. The platform enables prescribers to send patients an encrypted electronic prescription to their mobile phone via SMS at the point of prescribing. After receiving a text message, patients can then choose a pharmacy based on price and location to dispense their medication, including mail order, all on their mobile phone. Consumers can save up to 90% on the cost of their prescriptions when searching for their medications through Prescryptive's savings offering.
• Justworks, a HR technology platform providing small businesses access to benefits, payroll, HR tools and compliance support, announced Kindbody, a fertility clinic network and family-building benefits provider, as an official benefits partner. Justworks members and their dependents (18 years of age or older) actively enrolled in Aetna or UnitedHealthCare medical plans—over 130,000 people—now have access to Kindbody’s fertility and family-building services through Justworks’ benefits suite. The partnership between Justworks and Kindbody propels the goal of accessible healthcare forward by providing discounted pricing on treatment costs for employees, at no cost to employers.
• Teladoc Health announced it was expanding its telehealth services to weight management and prediabetes programs, including prescribing new weight-loss medications. So far, it was providing doctor-based services to diabetes and hypertension patients only, but will now cater to a large market with new diabetes and weight loss medications as well, Teladoc said. Teladoc's move reflects the surge in popularity in weight-loss drugs following the recent approval of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy as well as the widely expected approval of Eli Lilly and Co's tirzepatide for obesity later this year.
• Inovalon, a provider of cloud-based software solutions empowering data-driven healthcare, announced that RCM Intelligence, a revenue cycle management solution providing integrated analytics and data visualization capabilities, will now be compatible with all electronic data interchange claims clearinghouses, connecting to commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid payers. Leveraging Inovalon’s advanced analytics, RCM Intelligence seamlessly operationalizes raw claims data to deliver real-time insights that improve cash flow, profitability, and productivity for healthcare providers without having to compromise performance based on which EDI clearinghouses they may be using. These insights include payer performance trends, claims corrections, cash projections, time-to-file rates, turnaround times, and denial percentages.
• integrate.ai, a SaaS company helping organizations solve the world’s most important problems without risking the world’s most sensitive data, announced its central role in the Canadian Platform for Genomics and Precision Health, funded in part by Digital. Together with partner DNAstack, the platform will help deliver better outcomes for Canadians by making it easier to derive AI-powered discoveries across networks of data in neuroscience, oncology, rare disease, infectious disease, health care, agriculture, and beyond.
• Luna, a provider of in-home, in-person physical therapy, announced a collaboration with Powerback Rehabilitation, one of the nation's largest rehabilitation therapy providers, to deliver in-home, in-person outpatient physical therapy together across key strategic markets. Through the partnership, the Powerback Rehabilitation To You in-home service line, which provides high-quality, personalized rehabilitation therapy in the safety and convenience of patients' homes, will expand their physical therapy service areas with licensed Luna physical therapists. The collaboration will also expand to in-home occupational therapy and speech therapy later this year.
• Define Ventures, a venture capital firm that focuses exclusively on early-stage digital-health startups, announced the closing of Fund III and Opportunities Fund that together total $460 million to fuel innovation in healthcare. Investing in incubation, seed, series A and series B stage startups, Define Ventures' newest fundraise pushes its total assets under management to approximately $800 million and makes it one of the largest early-stage venture firms focused on investing in digital health.
• Gilde Healthcare announced a new investment fund with €600 million in commitments: Gilde Healthcare Venture&Growth VI. The new fund focuses on fast growing companies developing solutions for better care at lower cost. Gilde Healthcare invests in companies in Europe and North America active in digital healthcare, medical technology (MedTech) and therapeutics.
• Unlock Health, a healthcare technology and services growth platform, announced its formation through the combination of Eruptr, a provider of healthcare digital marketing providing proprietary technology-enabled solutions, and DECODE, a digital and creative agency focused on healthcare. Unlock Health solves healthcare organizations' urgent need for growth while driving long-term, sustainable performance. The platform is backed by Amulet Capital Partners, a middle-market private equity investment firm focused exclusively on the healthcare sector, and Athyrium Capital Management, a specialized asset management company focused on opportunities in the global healthcare sector.
• Ciox Health, a Datavant company, and Oscar Health, a health insurance company built around a full stack technology platform, announced they have renewed and expanded their digital services agreement. Under the expanded agreement, Oscar will have access to the Datavant Switchboard via Ciox to securely request, retrieve, and digitally deliver clinical data. Through this digital capability, medical record access is improved and turnaround time is reduced, while reducing the burden on providers. The arrangement is expected to deliver a total spend reduction of 25% over the term of the agreement for Oscar under the new contract.
• Express Scripts, the pharmacy benefits management business of Evernorth, a subsidiary of The Cigna Group, announced key efforts to expand access to health care in rural communities through partnerships with independent pharmacies across the U.S. The new IndependentRx Initiative will offer increased reimbursement opportunities and additional care services to rural independent pharmacies – and create an Independent Pharmacy Advisory Committee to expand the role of rural, suburban and urban pharmacies in the health care system. These steps build on Express Scripts' recently announced actions to further evolve the PBM model and drive greater medication affordability for the 100 million Americans the company serves. The IndependentRx Initiative is expected to benefit thousands of independent pharmacy partners across the country and will expand significantly over time.
• DeepMind and the Brain team from Google Research will be joining forces as a single, focused unit called Google DeepMind. Combining the talents and efforts will accelerate the company's progress towards a world in which AI helps solve the biggest challenges facing humanity. The division will look sot deliver AI research and products that dramatically improve the lives of billions of people, transform industries, advance science, and serve diverse communities.
• WellSky, a health and community care technology company, announced expanded capabilities in its CarePort suite of care transition solutions. These new enhancements equip discharge planners, care managers, and care coordinators with enhanced intelligence at the point of discharge to help them make more informed decisions and ensure patients receive the best possible care and support as they transition from the hospital to home or another care setting.
• Gale Healthcare Solutions, an on-demand digital staffing platform providing supplemental staff for post-acute healthcare providers, announced a new partnership with Smartlinx, Inc. that will expand Gale’s service to more communities across the country. As the first digital platform to provide per diem nurses in the post-acute industry, and the first to provide supplemental staff with same-day pay, Gale offers one of the industry’s fastest growing networks of temporary nursing professionals to help healthcare providers meet their workforce management needs.
• Royal Philips announced the availability of Philips HealthSuite Imaging on Amazon Web Services. Additionally, Philips and AWS will build on their relationship, advancing AI in healthcare by applying Foundation Models using Amazon Bedrock to accelerate the development of cloud-based generative AI applications that will provide clinical decision support, help enable more accurate diagnoses, and automate administrative tasks.
• Foothold Technology, a company that supports more than 1,000 human services agencies across 29 states with its Care Coordination and Electronic Health Record  system, announced its partnership with their first all-children’s health home, The Collaborative for Children and Families, a Health Home Serving Children and Families designated by the State Department of Health striving to keep children and families in New York State healthy.
• Hackensack Meridian Health, the state’s largest health network, is partnering with Etta.io., a healthcare technology startup that builds Artificial Intelligence applications to detect tumors difficult to see with the naked eye, even for specialists. The partnership aims to develop an AI based product/solution utilizing the potential of endoscopic images of the bladder to detect early-stage Carcinoma in situ. The investment and collaboration is being spearheaded by the health network’s Office of Innovation and Commercialization and the Bear’s Den Innovation Program within the Hackensack Meridian Health Research Institute.
• Wellstar Health System, an integrated healthcare systems, is collaborating with CLEAR, the secure identity company, focused on optimizing Wellstar consumers’ digital and physical healthcare experiences. Wellstar will embed secure identity verification Powered by CLEAR technology to provide patients with secure and easy access to their personal health information.
• Akkadian Labs, developer of a unified communications provisioning automation solution for enterprises and MSPs, announced a new partnership with Mobile Heartbeat, a clinical communications and collaboration platform for the healthcare enterprise. Akkadian Provisioning Manager, now integrates with Mobile Heartbeat’s MH-CURE clinical communication and collaboration platform -- allowing zero-touch provisioning of Mobile Heartbeat users.
• Abbott announced that it is partnering with the Climate Amplified Disease and Epidemics  consortium, a group of more than 100 global scientists in public health agencies, academia and industry focused on using data science technology and diagnostic testing to assess and potentially mitigate the impact climate change has on disease outbreaks. As part of the consortium, scientists trained in infectious diseases, bioinformatics and data science will develop technologies that can aggregate environmental, weather and viral sequencing data sets to predict if conditions could cause a disease outbreak. If a potential outbreak is identified, resources and rapid surveillance testing can be sent to that location to prevent further spread.
• KeyCare, an Epic-based virtual care company, announced its partnership with Allina Health to deliver high-quality virtual care with licensed providers whenever and wherever patients need it. Allina Health patients can access care by scheduling a virtual visit through the Allina Health MyChart patient portal. KeyCare Virtualist healthcare providers have secure access to a patient's Allina Health data while providing care and completing encounter details on KeyCare's Epic platform. Visit information is then seamlessly shared with members of the patient's Allina Health care team.
• Ancora Heart, a medical device company developing a novel transcatheter device-based therapy to address heart failure, and egnite, a digital health company in the field of cardiovascular care, announced a strategic partnership to accelerate clinical trial enrollment for Ancora Heart’s CORCINCH-HF pivotal clinical trial, which is evaluating the safety and efficacy of the AccuCinch Ventricular Restoration System. The partnership brings together the cutting-edge technology and expertise of both organizations with the goal of delivering innovative therapies to patients faster. The Christ Health Network in Cincinnati, OH is the first site in Ancora Heart’s CORCINCH-HF trial to utilize egnite’s Trial Accelerator artificial intelligence technology to help identify eligible patients.
• Secure Exchange Solutions, a provider of interoperable, cloud-based clinical data exchange and clinical alerting technologies, announced that Healthy.io, the global leader in transforming the smartphone camera into a medical device, has selected SES to support their Minuteful Kidney™ test, the only FDA-cleared smartphone-powered at-home kidney test. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a $120 billion healthcare problem affecting nearly 37 million American adults, and with one in three American adults at risk, CKD accounts for a quarter of all Medicare spending.
• SYNERGEN Health, a provider of technology-enabled revenue cycle services and solutions for healthcare organizations, and PreciseMDX, a technology provider offering lab management software that empowers and connects labs, care providers, and patients, announced their strategic partnership to provide laboratories and diagnostics with a seamless, end-to-end revenue cycle solution to bolster operational efficiencies, scalability, and growth. The collaboration between these two leading healthcare technology companies serves to enhance new and existing client relationships and drive long-term engagements.
• Cadence announced a partnership with Providence to implement a remote patient monitoring and responsive virtual care program across Providence’s clinics. Cadence’s platform couples powerful technology with an expert, Nurse Practitioner-led clinical care team that collects, analyzes, and responds to patients’ vitals daily, outside of the clinic setting.
• Tausight, an AI-powered protected health information security company, announced a new partnership with Novelle IntelliSolve™, the managed security service provider providing cyber preparedness and response solutions for healthcare and the life sciences. Together, the new partners have designed a unified solution that gives healthcare organizations a single tool to identify, detect, and respond to ePHI vulnerabilities.
• Tag.bio, a provider of data mesh for life sciences and precision medicine, announced a new partnership with SimpleTherapy, a provider of integrated, omnichannel care for Musculoskeletal and behavioral health services. Together, the companies aim to improve the accuracy of patient diagnoses, the effectiveness of treatments, and reduction of overall healthcare costs by combining their expertise in data analytics and personalized healthcare.
• TransUnion announced it is leveraging its acquisition of Neustar to expand its partnership with Datavant, a company helping organizations securely connect health data, to offer de-identified patient insights and measurement solutions for HIPAA-focused healthcare brands. The partnership will enable Datavant’s ecosystem of partners to connect to demographic data available in TruAudience, TransUnion’s comprehensive suite of solutions. The integration will enable healthcare and pharmaceutical companies to improve customer outcomes across the full lifecycle of patient engagement, especially measurement of outreach effectiveness.
• Cochlear, together with the Australian Hearing Hub members, National Acoustic Laboratories, Macquarie University, The Shepherd Centre, and NextSense, have agreed to a collaboration with Google to uncover new solutions to help people with hearing loss. The collaboration brings together expertise and resources from hearing, research, technology, academia, government, healthcare and information sciences sectors.
• REVIV, a preventative health and wellness brand, partnered with Randox Health, the largest healthcare diagnostics company in the UK and Ireland. The exciting partnership is a first for Randox who will be offering REVIV’s therapies in their clinics alongside their own diagnostic testing. REVIV’s full menu of IV drip therapies and IM booster shots will be available for their customers to support their journey to optimize their wellness.
• ShiftMed, a provider of an on-demand workforce technology, announced a partnership with Smartlinx, a cloud-based workforce management platform for post-acute, senior care, and other healthcare facilities. With this integration, healthcare facilities utilizing the Smartlinx Staffing Marketplace, a platform that connects staffing platforms with a healthcare organization's existing Smartlinx workforce management platform, are now able to easily post and fill shifts using ShifitMed staff within the Staffing Marketplace.
• Evo Pricing is partnering with Dante Genomics to offer full DNA sequencing to employees in an effort to improve their well-being while further expanding the adoption of AI technology into the healthcare industry. Partnering with Dante Genomics is providing Evo Pricing with the opportunity to expand their offering and continue to research new AI solutions that can help with the go-to-market of DNA sequencing and other high value-add healthcare services. The goal is to build a new AI service so that Dante Labs can position themselves as market leaders in genetic offerings. The Evo’s AI service can increase targeting and reduce the cost of building awareness of the relevance of DNA sequencing to the broader population. With more awareness of the advantages of genetic sequencing in the market, both Evo and Dante Genomics will grow.
• Spatially Health, a cloud-based, technology company focused on pioneering new methods in geospatial analytics and location intelligence to better understand and improve social determinants of health, announced a partnership with Asaar Medical, an ACO Reach Organization. Spatially Health will assist Asaar with identifying and addressing health equity barriers affecting Asaar's patient population, through the use of its Equity EqualizerTM technology which will be utilized to detect patient-specific health equity impediments and present customized intervention suggestions, ultimately fostering patient involvement and optimizing medical management initiatives.
• Quantum Health, a consumer healthcare navigation and care coordination company, announced it will join with Health Plans, a third-party administrator, to leverage their Employer Health Network to deliver a new healthcare navigation platform for self-insured employers throughout the New England region. Additionally, Quantum Health will partner with HPI to deliver a combined navigation and high-performance network offering for employees and their dependents nationwide. These different delivery and navigation solutions will provide alternatives to the high cost of traditional managed care networks and will help drive better member experiences and clinical outcomes.
• SunStone Consulting partnered with VisiQuate for advanced revenue cycle analytics to help the firm accelerate client return on investment (ROI). SunStone Consulting partners with healthcare providers across the country to streamline and optimize all aspects of their reimbursement, regulatory, and revenue cycle through strategic solutions. SunStone Consulting and VisiQuate have a shared healthcare client base that strives to drive financial and operational efficiencies within their organizations with a data-driven and proactive approach.
• Vibe Health by eVideon, a provider of hospital smart room technology and digital workflow solutions, announced a new partnership with OhioHealth, a not-for-profit health system with 14 hospitals, 200+ ambulatory sites and health services spanning 50 Ohio counties. This strategic partnership will see the initial deployment of the Vibe Health smart room platform into OhioHealth Pickerington Methodist Hospital, which is scheduled to open its doors in December of this year.
• Cardinal Health announced the launch of the Stray Away hair management drape for more efficient surgical procedure preparation. The Stray Away drape is specifically designed and manufactured by Cardinal Health to help minimize hair from obstructing the surgical area and to improve patient preparation time and experience. The Stray Away drape is a result of a collaboration between Cardinal Health and one of its customers, MedStar Health, which helps its associates transform innovative ideas and discoveries into commercial products and other solutions through the MedStar Institute for Innovation Inventor Services team.
• MedX Health Corp., a teledermatology company, announced a Memorandum of Understanding for the launch of a new commercialization pilot project with PharmaChoice Canada, one of Canada’s fastest-growing pharmacy groups, with more than 1000 independent pharmacy owners and operators across its PharmaChoice and RxHealthMed brands. The Pilot Project is scheduled to commence in May 2023 and to run for a three-month assessment period. Initially, the Pilot Project will be conducted at twenty PharmaChoice locations in four Provinces: British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Depending on assessments, success and demand, the Pilot Project may be expanded up to fifty locations across Canada. Upon successful completion of the Pilot Project, PharmaChoice and MedX anticipate that access to MedX’s teledermatology screening service will be rolled out across the entire PharmaChoice chain of pharmacies.
• Monaghan Medical Corporation and Premier announced their agreement to a three-year contract, effective May 1, 2023, creating a partnership through which Monaghan will provide Premier AscenDrive Program members with respiratory devices in two categories: Respiratory Therapy Medication Delivery devices and Oscillatory Positive Expiratory Pressure/Positive Airway Pressure devices.
• Cercare Medical brought their Neurovascular Clinical Workflows into ConcertAI's TeraRecon Eureka Clinical AI Platform in new partnership. The Eureka Clinical AI platform from ConcertAI's TeraRecon provides clinicians with the state-of-the-art artificial intelligence and deep learning technologies to deliver next-level CT and MR imaging through Cercare Perfusion, a fully-automated, simple-to-use, patient-specific perfusion software. Brain perfusion scans measure blood flow in the brain and are used to provide critically needed information on the extent of tissue damage, for instance, due to acute ischemic stroke. Quickly mapping brain perfusion deficits is pivotal to minimize tissue damage in acute stroke management, and Cercare further enriches the workflow with layers of AI to produce volumetric measures, which directly impact clinical decision-making.
• Horizons Mental Health Center, a provider of behavioral health and mental health services, selected the Netsmart CareFabric platform to enhance clinical, financial and operational efficiencies across the organization’s seven facilities in Kansas. Through this collaboration, Netsmart will equip Horizons with the technology and tools designed to deliver integrated, person-centered care as well as support their transition to a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic.
• Talkiatry, a provider of high-quality, in-network psychiatric care, announced a partnership with the largest health insurer in New Jersey, further expanding its psychiatric services to more than 200 million covered lives across 43 markets. Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc. commercial members now have access to Talkiatry's virtual mental health care services as the company continues to expand its national footprint to provide more people with access to high-quality psychiatric care.
• Nyamira County is partnering with Zipline Company to avail instant Sexual Reproductive Health Services of delivering medical commodities to adolescents and young adults in Nyamira County via an automated drone. The County AIDS/HIV and STI Coordinator Irene Omwenga said that their partnership with Zipline is very much welcome and will be very instrumental in reaching out to the young adults and adolescents who fear to access sexual and reproductive health services from health facilities because of stigma and negative societal perception of them and their health in relation to sexuality.
• Asahi Kasei Bioprocess America, a subsidiary of diversified Japanese multinational company Asahi Kasei, and GeminiBio have entered into a strategic partnership to advance the application of inline buffer formulation in the biopharmaceutical industry. Asahi Kasei Bioprocess, with decades of expertise in IBF and the developers of the award-winning MOTIV™ system, and GeminiBio, with industry leading bioprocess liquid manufacturing capabilities, are combining two high-efficiency solutions for buffer management to biopharmaceutical manufacturers in one package. This will result in fewer bottlenecks in manufacturing, streamlining the IBF process. The companies entered the agreement in March 2023 with the initial scope of the North American biopharmaceutical industry.
• US Heart & Vascular, a national provider of support services to cardiovascular physician practices, partnered with HeartPlace, the largest physician-owned cardiology practice in Texas, focused on all aspects of cardiovascular care. With a growing footprint of partners, a strong management team, and backing from funds managed by the Private Equity Group of Ares Management, USHV is building the premier, physician-led destination for independent cardiovascular providers to improve patient care delivery and reduce costs to the healthcare system. With an expanding foundation of partners in Arizona, Texas, and Kansas, USHV is actively seeking new partnerships with quality practices and entrepreneurial cardiovascular physicians across the country.
• Atrium Health announced a $5.05 million gift to the Atrium Health Foundation "Giving Hope" campaign from the Truist Charitable Fund and Truist Foundation, which will advance several community-driven programs aimed at improving health outcomes and economic mobility for vulnerable community members in the Charlotte area. A significant portion of the gift will support development of a medical neighborhood – a clinical-community partnership that includes the medical and social supports necessary to address disparities in care – in underserved areas of Charlotte. Additional funds will be designated to help build career pathways for justice-involved individuals and entry-level teammates.
• Lovell Government Services announced a partnership with NelDerm, a provider of customer-led solutions for the management and prevention of pressure injuries through the continuum of care for the acute, long-term and home health settings. Lovell will represent NelDerm as their Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Vendor in the federal space. This partnership announcement comes with the news that NelDerm’s HeelP.O.D.™ has been approved on major government contract vehicles overseen by the General Services Administration (GSA), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Department of Defense, and Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). Government customers can now find the HeelP.O.D.on the Federal Supply Schedule (FSS), the Distribution and Pricing Agreement, and ECAT. Listing products on these contracts through Lovell gives government customers the dual benefit of a streamlined acquisition process while working towards their SDVOSB procurement goal.
• Healint, a global leader in AI-driven healthcare solutions for Central Nervous System and Immune System conditions, and Aptar Digital Health, a global expert in Software as a Medical Device, digital Patient Support Programs and disease management solutions, entered into a collaboration aimed at enhancing the way patients with CNS and immune conditions are managed and treated. The partnership will capitalize on the combined capabilities of the two organizations to provide support to pharmaceutical partners aiming to deliver enhanced patient experiences through innovative digital solutions.
• FinThrive, a healthcare revenue management software-as-a-service provider, and Pennsylvania Mountains Healthcare Alliance, a joint network of independent community hospitals serving Western and Central Pennsylvania, announced the expansion of their partnership to deploy FinThrive's integrated Revenue Management platform at four of the 13 hospitals in PMHA's network. The decision to move to a holistic Revenue Management platform puts PMHA at the forefront of a larger trend wherein health systems are increasing digital transformation initiatives focused on healthcare revenue management and patient engagement systems. This technology and process investment will allow PMHA to work with a single vendor on a set of strategic initiatives aimed at increasing revenue and reducing costs - a key priority to ensuring their community hospitals can achieve their missions.
• Drug-IT Solutions and InvestiPharm partnered as part of efforts to coordinate drug supply chains and improve patient outcomes in Nigeria. The two companies, which are both undergoing seed funding rounds, are working together to change how drugs are distributed via an online, B2B platform to connect buyers and suppliers along the pharmaceutical supply chain.

M&A

• TPG, a global alternative asset management firm, and AmerisourceBergen Corporation agreed to acquire OneOncology, a network of oncology practices, from General Atlantic, a global growth equity firm
• Merck, through a subsidiary, agreed to acquire Prometheus Biosciences, a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering a precision medicine approach for the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapeutic and companion diagnostic products for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases
• Viemed Healthcare, a provider of respiratory care and technology-enabled home medical equipment services, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Home Medical Products, a regional provider of respiratory focused home medical solutions
• Global Healthcare Exchange, a software-as-a-service company that's reducing the cost of doing business in healthcare, signed a definitive agreement to acquire Prodigo Solutions, a supply chain and data enablement technology company
• Vyne Dental, a provider of revenue cycle, claims management, and electronic health information exchange for all-sized dental practices, acquired Simplifeye, a provider of software solutions that digitize and improve existing processes core to many dental practices
• Best Medical International, a developer of radiotherapy products, acquired certain assets of Advanced Radiation Therapy, a developer of radiotherapy technologies for the treatment of breast cancer
• Flagship Facility Services, a company dedicated to creating and maintaining safe and healthy facilities for customers, acquired Biotechnical Services, an independent laboratory services company
• Fortis Healthcare, an Indian multinational chain of private hospitals, acquired Medeor Hospital
• Aditxt, a company focused on therapeutics and technologies that monitor and modulate the immune system, signed an asset purchase agreement with Cellvera that grants Aditxt a 50% ownership in G Response Aid FZE with the other 50% owned by global logistics company Agility
• Alphatec Holdings, a provider of innovative solutions dedicated to revolutionizing the approach to spine surgery, acquired all assets related to the REMI Robotic Navigation System from Fusion Robotics, a privately held medical technology company
• LTS LOHMANN Therapie-Systems AG, a pharmaceutical technology company that develops and manufactures innovative delivery systems, signed an agreement to acquire the Sorrel Wearable Injection Devices business from Eitan Medical

Funding Roundup 

• Memora Health, a company using AI to digitize and automate complex care workflows, raised $30 million
• Noah Medical, a developer of medical robotics, raised $150 million
• Chamlion Technology, a dental 3D printing company, raised $34 million
• Tricog, a heart health AI firm, raised $8.5 million
• Cortica, an autism services company focused on children, raised $75 million
• Nolea Health, a healthcare jobs marketplace platform, raised £1 million
• Gather Health, a high-impact, socially-focused primary care solution for older adults, raised over $15 million
• Third Way Health, an end-to-end front office solution which reduces the administrative burden of medical practices and enhances the patient experience, raised $1.55 million
• Zetta Genomics, a genomic data technology company, raised £1.9 million
• Mediwhale, a developer of AI-powered retina scan technology, raised $9 million
• Bioliberty, developer of robotic glove that can help restore upper limb mobility in stroke patients, raised £2.2 million
• Syntilio, a platform that enables healthcare providers to service remote patients and manage their care more efficiently, raised an undisclosed amount of funding
• Perci Health, a digital cancer care platform, raised £3.4 million
• Caristo Diagnostics Limited, a provider of cardiac and vascular disease diagnostics and risk prediction, raised £13 million

(Image source: britannica.com)