#35 🍩 What the Health - All hail our AI overlords, Sugar is bad (?) & Science keeps kicking ass
#35 🍩 What the Health - All hail our AI overlords, Sugar is bad (?) & Science keeps kicking ass
Your health tech & innovation TL;DR roundup
Welcome back to What the Health 🍩
The latest (and greatest) insights, rants, and bants on all things Aussie Health tech & innovation.
And a special welcome to the 180 new legends who’ve joined us since the last drop.
New here? Welcome friend! Keen to join our epic crew getting the latest and greatest health innovation drops? 😊
Seems the world be going a lil cray.
Banks collapsed (again) from panic, GPT4 now runs the world, Twitter changed to XCorp as Musk moves towards world domination, Texas tried to knock a FDA abortion drug off the market, and the UK looks like it will be short >570,000 health professionals by 2035? *GULP*
But anyway, lots of good things happening too. So here’s a cute lil (overdue) roundup for you…
PS - Got something you want to share? Seen something that should be included?
💌 Hit reply or hit us up @ emily@whatthehealth.io
🍩 TODAY
Noteworthy tidbits
Startup Stuff
Events
Cool Content
Lols (cause if we don’t laugh, we’ll cry)
Let’s go…
Noteworthy 🗞️
Funding Fun
☀️ MoreGoodDays, a chronic pain management startup snagged $3.5m to bring accessible & affordable gold standard treatment to the 1 in 5 who suffer globally
📲 Mindset Health, the hypnotherapy DTX app crew announced a US$12m Series A to scale products across IBS, menopause, smoking, mental health & more
🔬Endo Axiom, a spinoff developing a new needle free drug delivery system, snagged $2.2m to help bring oral insulin to life
🤰Kali Healthcare celebrated $750k for clinical trials to innovate in pregnancy monitoring
🗣️ Sim Converse, an AI simulation startup digitising healthcare education & improving communication skills training raised $1.5m
💊 Vitable, a vitamin startup using AI to tailor supplements to individuals raised $1.9m in 24 hours from crowdfunding
👩🔬 Kitea Health, a Kiwi remote care Medtech, raised NZ$6m with its sensors nearing human trials
🧁 Stripped Supply, who make life easier for people living with diabetes ft. a diabetes subscription box joined Aginic Ventures Portfolio
🧪SpeeDx, the J&J spinout snagged $26m to build tech that aims to tell doctors how to treat infections
🎧Nura, maker of personalised hearing products, was acquired by Denon
🩻 Lumitron, who supposedly created a machine with 1000x the resolution of a traditional X-ray (with less radiation) - is on the hunt for US$20m before heading to the Nasdaq
Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners was rumoured to be weighing a rival offer for Healius Limited
Bain Capital reportedly threw in a $775m bid for Estia Health
Newsworthy
🛒 Woolies announced they’re opening a telehealth practice ft same day GP apts, nutritionists & naturopaths
🧠Inventia Life Science is collabing with MSD to develop 3D in vitro models that mimic the brain to help with neurodegenerative disease drug discovery
🦠USYD Researchers found a lung protein that sticks to the Covid19 virus like velcro and immobilises it, which may explain why some people get sick and others don’t
🤖A remote ultrasound robot, ‘HERCULES’ is being tested in hospital with patients - in a world first, with hopes it might help remote & regional accessibility
🫀New ‘bio-inks’, made of a patient’s own stem cells are being used to “mend broken hearts” in a world first, repairing areas of dead tissue caused by heart attacks through 3D-printing of cells for tissue repair
🫁 USYD is leading establishment of the NSW Organoid Innovation Centre using stem-cell stuff to accelerate drug discovery, design & precision medicine. Ft. ‘Mini-organs in a dish’
✅ Harrison.ai racked up another 7 new FDA clearances for image triage and notification solutions, for chest X-rays and Brain CTs
🧠Cyban’s new non invasive tech for monitoring intracranial pressure (ICP), in a recent trial shows it might be just as good as invasive implants
🚺 A new study in SA is combining ultrasound & AI in hopes of diagnosing endometriosis without invasive surgery
🖨️ UNSW researchers unveiled a tiny flexible device that can directly 3D print living cells onto organs endoscopically
💉 Moderna reckons personalised cancer vax’s could be ready by the end of the decade
🔥Brandon Capital and ANDHealth team up to manage the MRFF’s $50 million BioMedTech Incubator (BMTI) - and will dish out up to $5m to 15-25 companies
🚷AI & Sensors for falls prevention in aged care are in…
With a monitoring system rolling out in aged care in WA & a consortium snagging funding to trial ‘Talius’, a combo data analytics with sensor tech
We have the endless health data… but looks like we can’t like, use it
Head of the Digital Health Co-operative Research Centre, Associate Professor Annette Schmiede, said “a culture of fear and protection” is keeping health data locked away and blocking digital health initiatives
Government Goss
❤️🔥AI is helping detect heart disease in remote Aus, with AI guided scans helping alleviate resources, staff and skill shortages
🧑🏾⚕️We might be short of 10,000 GPs soon. Watch out ERs…
📚The Australian Digital Health Agency published their updates Clinical Governance Framework
🧘♀️ The Black Dog Institute is calling for MBS funded trials of mixed digital and face-to-face therapy for mental health, including digital therapeutics to help bridge gaps
🤝The Australian Association of Practice Management (AAPM) and the Commonwealth Bank are buddying up to “drive excellence in practice management using digital solution”
US & Beyond the Borders
🎥 Youtube launched “Continuing medical and nursing education for clinicians in collab with Harvard, providing more accessible Continuing Education (CME) credits
🍐Digital Therapeutic darling Pear Therapeutics filed for bankruptcy with struggles to get insurers to cover costs and make the economics work
🍬 Spain is rolling out the worlds first 3D printed (chewable) personalised kids medicine Trials
🌎 Google introduced…
Its new Open Healthcare OS Stack: Open source tools built with the WHO for developers to build health-related apps ft. FHIR
Their development of a “biological ageing clock” using AI and retinal images, enabling prediction of “body age” and prediction of potential diseases - trained on a dataset of over 800,000 people
Some AI Tools To Speed Up Health Insurance Pre Approval in the US
🍎Apple..
Published prelim findings from its Apple Women’s Health Study, ft. a cohort of >50,000 to help advance understanding of menstrual cycles and how they relate to health conditions
Reportedly made strides on its “no-prick” blood glucose monitor
🏥Amazon officially welcomed One medical to the fold…
With the ”mission to make it dramatically easier for customers to get what they need to stay healthy… customers can connect with clinicians 24/7 via video chat or messaging if that’s most convenient”
🚔 BetterHelp, the online therapy platform, owes customers US$7.8M after data mishandling
🛒The US is allowing Medicaid Money to be used for food in attempts to improve chronic diseases
🎮 Singapore hospitals are using gamified VR nurse training for cannula insertion
Sick Science
💩 New study identified specific immune cells in the gut which appear linked to Depression - and could lead to new forms of treatment
🏝️Unsurprisingly, studies show 4 day work weeks appear better for health
🌲 Nature prescriptions are getting growing evidence of effectiveness - with the latest review showing reduced blood pressure, depression and anxiety
🍭A study of all the studies of sugar (>8600)… showed its probs bad for us
With it linked to ~45 medical conditions if you eat >6 teaspoons a day
🎀MIT Researchers developed an AI based system that accurately helped predict the future risk of women developing breast cancer
🤖 ChatGPT & LLMs hype cycle continues…
🚚 ChatGPT, LLMs & the release of GPT4 still dominate headlines with updates only accelerating
People are turning to ChatGPT & chatbots for mental health therapy - despite concerns… with apps spinning up within weeks
Google introduced their MedPaLM 2, A GPT-4 Like Model for Healthcare
Microsoft’s Nuance are adding GPT-4 AI to its medical note-taking tool
Doximity, a digital platform for medical professionals, rolled out beta version of ChatGPT tool for docs to streamline administrative paperwork
GPT4
Passed the US medical licensing exam in the top percentiles, and helped pick a 1 in 100,000 condition
But, most argue we’re still Not Ready to Be Diagnosed by ChatGPT - as though its tech is there, its still lacking nuance and the ability to give a damn whether you live or die
Startup Stuff 🚀
Ready to scale your health tech company?
UNSW’s Health 10x program in partnership with The George Institute for Global Health, helps equip startups with expertise and tools needed to build their company and navigate the crazy complex industry - More here
Women founders looking for a hand with getting investment ready?
Scale Investors are supporting diverse Vic-based women founders in their 10 week capital-raising founder education program, EmpowerEd with LaunchVic
Digital health company keen to prove out a business model?
ANDHealth’s BRIGHT Innovate supports innovators to learn with industry leaders across a diverse range of topics to establish feasibility plans - More here
Women entrepreneurs looking for support?
The new Australian Resource Directory for Women Entrepreneurs contains a collection of relevant programs, funding sources, networks, mentors and tools to support women entrepreneurs
NSW-based Startup or Scaleup looking to fuel your growth?
The MVP grant program got a revamp and expansion, with up to $200k available per company, widened eligibility criteria and a supposedly easier app process - More here
Keen to commercialise? Or know what it takes?
Cicada's Health Tech team have an open night for their next NSW Health Commercialisation Training Program - More here
Want to take your venture to the UK & Ireland in 2023?
Join ANDHealths Delegation! An exciting opp for Aussie SMEs in the digital and connected health space to head to the UK and Ireland for face-to-face networking and growth opportunities - More here
The HCF Research Foundation opened apps for for its Research Grants
Grants are up for grabs for those working on innovation in primary care models that support or promote preventative health & population health management, the use of AI and 'big data' for augmenting decision-making in healthcare, and the use of non-drug innovations to manage pain - More here
Aged and Community Care Service Provider?
The Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council (ACIITC) is putting out its last call for Expression of Interest for Service Providers to join the Roundtable
💰Adelaide BioMed City made a sick ‘“Go to guide for grant funding” for researchers, entrepreneurs and industry to find relevant funding opportunities or support programs across the health ecosystem
📚AusBiotech launched a swanky new Australian life sciences incubator and accelerator programmes directory.
Events💥
18th, 20th, 27th April: Future Women Investors
Wed 19th April: Startmate Demo Day
Wed 26th April: AI Is My Copilot Workshop
Thur 27th April: BioSymposium: Point of Care Diagnostics
27th - 28th April: National Telehealth Conference
2nd, 9th, 15th May: Rebbeck Digital Health Foundations Course
Thur 4th May: Wild Health Canberra Australian Health Leaders’ Summit
12th - 14th May: DSAi GPT Hackathon
15th - 16th May: Facing the Future: Aged Care 2030 and Beyond
Wed 17th May: AI and the Future of Health
24th - 25th May: AusMedtech 2023
Tues 23rd May: Where Digital Meets Devices Summit
30th May - 1st June: Software as a Medical Device 3-day Specialist Course with Cicada Innovations
Consumable Content 💎
🎙️Build It. They'll Come: Perx Health – Hugo Rourke revolutionises chronic illness treatment compliance by offering rewards via an app. 1/2
🔊Huberman Lab: Dr. Sara Gottfried: How to Optimize Female Hormone Health for Vitality & Longevity
🌄 Clearhead built a fun, pretty af interactive AI adventure tool to help you figure out your personal values and see if it aligns with your relationships and/or work
👶🏻 Wild Health wrote a ripper piece Australia’s digital health problem as explained to a six-year-old
🧬 a16z is betting big on Biotech and the tech and infrastructure possibilities around it. Check out their piece Doing More with Moore: Biotech’s Tech Moment
🩺 Google’s Leaders shared their learnings in the NEJM on Building a Clinical Team in a Large Technology Company
🗯️ Euc wrote a piece on how “A fear of technology is holding back an effective, affordable future for general practice” to accompany their submission to the Medical Board of Australia
📈 Bessemer Partners released an interesting piece on How to scale a health tech business to $100 million ARR and beyond
"After studying over 100 venture-backed healthcare companies, we present the definitive benchmarks for what growing a health tech business should look like at every stage."
🍩 WTH… Cause if we don’t laugh we’ll cry
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How did you find this? Did we miss something? Just want to say hey?
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Thanks to Dina, Peter, Zach, Emerson, Helena, Charlie & Michelle for sharing fun things for this drop!
Ciao my health tech lovers
👋 Emily
With thanks to our partners 💜
PS - They just launched a swanky new job site ft fun careers in digital health
💼 Check it out here