#58 🍩What The Health - Reversing Diabetes, AI Scribe surge and SXSW Sydney giveaway
Your health tech & innovation TL;DR roundup
It’s Fridayyyy - and my health innovation lovers, today we have a giveaway.
🎁 Want some free SXSW Sydney & Startmate Demo Day tickets? 🎫
We love you. And we hope you love us back. But what is love without some PUBLIC PDA?💍
We have 1x ticket to SXSW Sydney (RRP $1195) and 2x tickets to Startmate Demo Day to give away.
Keen? All you have to do to go into the running is…
HOW TO ENTER:
Share a LinkedIn post with “Why you love What the Health” and/or “why you think others should subscribe too” 💜
*Extra points for creativity
To enter, you should:
Post your answer to the above question on LinkedIn.
Tag What the Health in your response.
Link to www.whatthehealth.io
All entrants will be entered into a random draw, and winners will receive either 1 free ticket to SXSW Sydney or Startmate Demo Day.
Entries close on Wednesday 6th of October, 4pm AEDT.
Winners announced next Thursday.
🍩 TODAY’S ISSUE
Newsworthy
Sick Science
AI Updates
Startup Stuff
Events
Cool Content
💡Got Feedback? Something to include next time?
We want to make this worthy of your time and the best possible.
Hit reply or reach out to emily@whatthehealth.io to let us know!
Noteworthy 🗞️
Funding
💪 Evolt, Aussie body composition tech maker, raised A$20M as it prepares for an Aus stock exchange debut
🏋️♀️ VALD, a musculoskeletal assessment & rehabilitation tech company, has raised an undisclosed sum from FTV Capital for global expansion
🤒 Lumos Diagnostics nabbed ~US$3M from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration to support the FebriDx® bacterial/non-bacterial point-of-care test
Newsworthy
🧠 UTS researchers developed a portable & non-invasive AI system that decodes silent thoughts into text
🗣️ Lyrebird Health’s AI scribe is working on transcribing consultations in multiple languages & convert them into English
📝 MediRecords will integrate Heidi Health’s AI Scribe from Oct, allowing doctors to instantly transform clinical consultations into notes
💥 LinkedIn released their list of Top Aussie Startups 2024, & health & medical took centre stage:
Montu (Melb) Connecting Australians with medical cannabis through telehealth
Eucalyptus (Syd) Telehealth platform offering services in contraception, fertility, men’s health, & more
Heidi Health (Melb) AI-driven tool automating admin tasks for doctors
Vow (Syd) Biotech company creating lab-grown meat
🏆 Proto Axiom announced the 10 finalists for the Challenger Summit, where they’ll pitch medical research innovations to compete for $250K
💊 Women in NSW who’ve taken contraceptive pills for 2 years can now get them from pharmacies without a prescription
🩺 I-MED, Aus's largest radiology company, shared patient scan data with Harrison.ai to train AI models without public evidence of patient consent
🛑 Eucalyptus paused its $1k-a-month men's longevity program, Compound
📝 The Fertility Society of Aus & NZ predicts demand for ART will “exponentially increase” over the next decade, proposing non-discriminatory access for same-sex couples & solo parents
📉 The Acton Institute for Policy Research & Innovation report shows Aussie R&D investment & output is falling behind global peers as the business sector underinvests
Gov Goss
📋 RACGP urges the Aus Gov to offer incentives & training to boost use of My Health Record, following a nationwide survey showing that 31% of GPs rarely or never use it
🛑 Stealthing, the non-consensual removal of a condom, is now classified as rape under new QLD laws
💰 The Fed Gov pledged $3.5M to expand the "Deadly Choices" program, increasing access to annual health checks for Indigenous Aussies across NSW, Vic, ACT, & Tas
🌏 Record numbers of doctors, nurses, & health professionals have moved to Aus since the Albanese Gov's election, with 4.5k overseas doctors registering in the first 10mons of this FY—50% more than pre-COVID
📝 A Senate inquiry into issues related to menopause & perimenopause has been tabled in Parliament, recommending workplace reforms like paid reproductive leave & flexible working arrangements
US & Beyond the Borders
💊 US approved Cobenfy, the first new schizophrenia treatment in decades, targeting acetylcholine instead of dopamine to reduce symptoms with fewer side effects
👩⚕️ Jill Biden announces $500M from the Pentagon for women's health research, focusing on conditions like arthritis, chronic fatigue, & cardiovascular health
💉 The FDA approved FluMist, the first at-home nasal spray flu vaccine for individuals aged 2-49, providing a needle-free immunisation option
🌍 Nabla, US-based AI assistant, expands note-taking to 31 languages, with summaries & follow-up in the patient’s selected language
🏨 Tony Robbins & Sam Nazarian launched “The Estate”, a luxury wellness resort & longevity clinic chain, aiming to open 10 hotels & 15 urban centers by 2030
🧠 Elon Musk’s Neuralink received the FDA's breakthrough device designation for its experimental 'Blindsight' implant, to restore vision even for those who have lost both eyes & their optic nerve
The FDA's breakthrough designation is awarded to medical devices that treat or diagnose life-threatening conditions, accelerating their development & review
💡 Amazon Health Services partnered with Talkspace to help >150M people discover & access virtual therapy & psychiatry benefits
👥 Pie, a social app, raised $11.5M in a Series A led by Forerunner Ventures to combat social isolation by connecting its 20K+ users through IRL events, focusing on building meaningful, platonic relationships
💰Alan, a French health insurance unicorn, reached a $4.5B valuation after a $193M funding round led by Belgian Bank, Belfius
Alan automate much of the claims process, with reimbursements sometimes processed just mins after leaving the doctor’s office
Sick Science
🧪 Stem Cells Reverse Diabetes—A World First
Researchers at Peking University successfully reversed type 1 diabetes in a 25 y/o woman using reprogrammed stem cells from her own body. 2.5 months after the transplant, she no longer needed insulin & has maintained stable blood glucose levels for over a year.
🩸 3D Printing Blood Vessels for Transplants?
Harvard’s Wyss Institute developed co-SWIFT, a method that mimics natural vascular networks, improving blood flow in lab-grown tissues. These 3D-printed vessels worked with cardiac cells, beating together & responding to heart medications.
🦠 Could Antimicrobial Resistance Outpace Modern Medicine by 2050
The Global Burden of Disease analysed bacterial antimicrobial resistance from 1990 to 2021. The study found AMR caused 1.14M deaths in 2021, with a sharp rise in resistant infections, especially among older adults. By 2050, AMR could cause up to 8.22M deaths annually
🧼 Plastics in Your Urinary Tract? Not So Fantastic
A scoping review found microplastics in 54% of human urine samples, 68% of bladder cancer cases, & 70% of kidney samples. Both microplastic fibres & particles were identified, ranging in size from 0.1 nm to 871 μm, with 13 types of polymers detected.
🤖 AI Updates
🌎 Google announced initiatives aimed at advancing India’s digital health infrastructure to help millions of people access their health info and empower clinicians with AI-driven tools
🤖 OpenAI's 'o1' model, now in ChatGPT, features advanced reasoning capabilities, outperforming previous models in medical assessments & complex problem-solving
🗣️ Klick Labs developed an AI tool that detects hypertension with up to 84% accuracy by analysing voice recordings, offering a new method for early diagnosis
💻 Dandelion Health launched a clinical AI marketplace merging third-party algorithms with its data platform for faster model validation & insights in clinical trials
🏥 AvaSure, Oracle, & NVIDIA are developing an AI-powered virtual concierge for hospitals to streamline clinical workflows & improve patient care, launching next year
🚨 Prepared, an assistive AI platform, raised $27M in a Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz to improve its 911 platform with real-time GPS, video, & text capabilities
Startup Stuff 🚀
Looking for Funding to Develop Drugs or Devices?
The TTRA, part of the MRFF, is offering up to $1.5M for Aussie start-ups, spin-outs, & SMEs to develop drugs or devices for cardiovascular disease & diabetes complications. - More here
Want to Export Health & Medtech to the Middle East?
The NSW Going Global Export Program offers free support to early-stage & new-to-market exporters in healthcare, digital health, medical, pharmaceutical, or complementary medicines. - More here
Building in Mental Health?
Johnson & Johnson's Amplifying Access to Mental Health Innovation QuickFire Challenge offers up to $300K in funding, mentorship, & global JLABS access for innovative solutions in mental healthcare - More here
Looking to Boost Your Digital Health Credentials?
The University of Sydney is offering two digital health microcredentials this October: AI in Healthcare: Practice Implications & Digitally Enabled Healthcare - More here
Looking for Clinical Trials Funding in 2024?
The MRFF is offering grants for clinical trials focused on rare cancers, rare diseases, unmet needs, & implementing proven health interventions - More here
Want to join a national Development & Commercialisation Summit?
AusBiotech & MTPConnect are hosting Aus's first National Biotech & Medtech Development Summit on 19 November 2024 in Canberra, focusing on advancing medical R&D strategies & biotech innovation. Senior industry leaders & experts will explore opportunities to drive commercialisation & future-proof access to innovation - More here
Ready to lead with confidence?
Ladymates Leadership, ANZ’s first mentor-driven community for women in leadership, offers executive coaching, peer mentorship, & workshops - Apply here
Qld female founder ready to scale up?
The Accelerating Female Founders Program offers subsidised business development programs for Qld-based female founders or leaders - More here
In NSW & need funding for your MVP?
The MVP Ventures Program offers grants from $25k to $50k for innovative startups in NSW to commercialise new products - More here
Events💥
8th Oct: VicHealth Research Exchange - Co-designing for research impact (online)
8th Oct: MTP Connect - Funding call for Drugs & Devices Addressing Cardiovascular Disease & Complications of Diabetes (online)
9th Oct: Startup Legal Essentials - Getting Your Business Off the Ground (Syd)
9th Oct: BioSymposium – Innovating Antibody-Drug Conjugates: From Mechanisms to Market (Melb)
14th Oct: Startmate Demo Day - W24 (Syd)
16th Oct: Health Services Daily - How a national HIE might deliver connected care for Aus (online)
16th Oct: Jumar - Bioelevate (Melb)
16th Oct: Challenger Summit - Australia’s Largest Pitch Day in Biotech (Syd)
16 - 17 Oct: Victorian Healthcare Week (Melb)
17th Oct: The Diverse Digital Health Workforce (Melb & online)
17th Oct: The Healthtech Muster (Syd)
23rd Oct: The Power of Branding - Building & Protecting Your Brand with IP Aus (Syd)
23rd - 24th Oct: MTAA MedTech Conference (Syd)
29th Oct: AusBioInvest (Melb)
30 Oct - Nov : AusBiotech (Melb)
21 Nov: BioMelbourne Network Annual General Meeting & Networking Event (Melb)
Consumable Content 💎
🎙️ RN Drive: How a new drug could change lives for people with schizophrenia
📝 Bessemer Venture Partners published their deep dive and thesis on AI in health looking at practical applications, limitations and whats next - Roadmap - Healthcare AI
📖 Hospital + Healthcare: Why more needs to be done to support home-grown innovations
An opinion piece ft. MTPConnect’s CEO Stuart Dignam’s thoughts on the upside of backing Aus born medical innovations
🎙️ Fixing Healthcare: Dr. Eric Topol on how AI is changing healthcare
Dr Topol discusses how AI will transform healthcare by improving preventive care , reducing misdiagnoses, & automating clinical documentation
📊 Lululemon’s Global Wellbeing Report reveals that despite 89% of people taking more action to improve well-being, there’s been no improvement
45% experience burnout from trying to maintain physical, mental, & social well-being
63% of those feeling burnt out believe they can’t improve their health
61% feel societal pressure to appear well
The report suggests a shift towards intuitive practices—focusing on self-awareness, movement, & community—can improve well-being:
Group fitness boosts well-being by 15%, team sports by 14%
Spending time in nature with others increases well-being by 18%
A sense of belonging in group exercise boosts well-being by over 20%
And, points to the best state health service promotions goes to…
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👋 Emily,
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