#61 🍩 What The Health - Melbourne Event, Oura hits $5bn ft. CGMs & David Beckham's longevity brand launches
Your health tech & innovation TL;DR roundup
Happy hump day crew.
The silly season’s fun has officially begun!
Speaking of which…
🎉 Melbourne - Keen for an end-of-year community catch-up with fellow healthtech nerds?
Join us and our friends Mindset Health for some bevs, bants and to say a big old goodbye to 2024 🥳
⏰ 5.30 pm onwards
🍻Bevs & bants
📍Mindset Health, Richmond
Spots are limited as usual - so make sure you nab your spot.
Sydney - sorry, we’re going low-key this time and just doing a dinner with our Private Community crew.
But, on that note…
Don’t forget APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN FOR COHORT 4 of The Exclusive WTH Community Crew 💜
🍩 An invite only, vetted group of doers, makers, founders, funders, health professionals and operators Like healthtech?
Want to connect & learn with the best?
In a safe vetted space, with other passionate, open -minded peeps?
Well - this is where the What the Health Community comes in.
It’s a vetted community for health tech innovators, carers, experts and operators to connect, collaborate and support each other on this journey. Sharing knowledge, connections and insights via a private Slack community, directory, resources, advisory sessions and exclusive events.
✨ It's your ultimate hack to level up & make life in healthtech easier ✨
With now 3 intakes of +320 insanely smart, diverse and interesting legends, we're SO excited to get more of you in the mix!
Want to know more?
👉Check this out
Or keen?
Ready to join the crew?
Ok, onto the news…
🍩 TODAY’S ISSUE
Newsworthy
Sick Science
AI Updates
Startup Stuff
Events
Cool Content
Noteworthy 🗞️
Funding
💰Vic Gov will invest $7.5M to fund researchers & PhD candidates to create 50 new startups via a new entrepreneurship program run by Breakthrough Victoria
💻 Safewill, a death tech startup, bagged $17M, to expand services like digital wills, power of attorney, & probate assistance
🧘♀️ Pronto Pilates snagged $1.6M in crowdfunding, to disrupt reformer pilates with affordable, trainer-free classes & expand its 15 studios to 1,000 globally by 2028
💼 Hostplus committed $125M to VC, backing startups through IP Group’s Innovation Fund
💼 Advent Partners is looking for a buyer for Medtech, a healthcare SaaS company with $15M in earnings & 16k users across Aus & NZ
Newsworthy
📜 Aus’s new Health Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 mandates private companies upload health data to My Health Record, ensuring real-time consumer access, reducing unnecessary tests, & cutting costs.
“Even a 1% reduction in duplicate tests could save private health funds $2.7M annually and the Commonwealth $4.8M, while sparing Aussies 1000s of unnecessary treatments”
🧪 Aussie women will soon have access to at-home chlamydia & gonorrhoea tests, approved by the TGA, offering faster & more private STI screening
🧬 Dr Michelle Perugini joined UniSA as Head of Commercialisation to lead research translation & IP activities, bringing her expertise as cofounder of 2 AI startups, including Life Whisperer, recently acquired by Astec
🧂 Aus’s reliance on imports left IV fluid supplies critically low as UNSW’s David Burt calls for sovereign capability to secure essential medical resources & strengthen national resilience.
“The most important element of national security is sovereign capability, our ability to independently develop, produce, & sustain the goods & services required for our quality of life.”
🤖 Baymatob won ‘AI Innovator - Healthcare’ at the Aus AI Awards for its maternal health tech providing early warnings for complications
🩺 Vexev & U.S. Renal Care Kidney Research began the CANSCAN trial to evaluate robotic tomographic ultrasound for improving vascular access in hemodialysis patients
Gov Goss
💊 Aus expands pill testing trials as Vic launches its first service at BTV festival, & QLD offers drug checking at Schoolies, marking a growing embrace of harm-reduction strategies
🧬 The Fed Gov launches Genomics Australia, a national body to lead & coordinate genomic research, with a $30M commitment over 4 years
🎓 Dr. Cathy Foley, outgoing Chief Scientist, calls for patience, belief, & bold leadership to tackle Aus’s innovation challenges
“We need to be prepared to step up and lead, to question things that we have taken for granted, our ingrained habits, and even the things we think are sacrosanct”
💼 Aus's $15B National Reconstruction Fund begins investing in deep tech, allocating $300M to boost quantum, robotics, & clean energy innovation
US & Beyond the Borders
💍 Oura raises $75M, reaching a US$5B+ valuation, partnering with Dexcom to integrate glucose monitoring data into its platform
🧠 Headspace laid off 13% of its staff & is transitioning all therapists from employed roles to contract to “reset” the business
📈 WHOOP adds psychedelics tracking to its Journal feature, letting users log ketamine, LSD, & psilocybin use to explore connections between mind-altering substances & recovery data
⚽ David Beckham codeveloped longevity supplement brand IM8 with biotech company Prenetics, launching its first product - a longevity drink
💻 Eli Lilly & Company, the global pharma, invests S$42M in Singapore to launch a Digital Health Innovation Hub
🛠️ Johns Hopkins researchers trained a surgical robot using imitation learning from surgery videos, enabling it to perform tasks like suturing & tissue manipulation as skillfully as human surgeon
Sick Science
🍺 Teen binge drinking be aging your brain - oops
Researchers from Penn State University revealed that moderate binge drinking causes enduring changes in brain activity, even 6 months after abstinence. Their study in Neurobiology of Aging found heightened excitatory signals to inhibitory neurons & altered excitability in pyramidal neurons in the prefrontal cortex of mice.
🍄 Fighting cancer with fungi?
A study published in Clinical &Translational Medicine found that white button mushroom (WBM) treatment slowed tumour growth, enhanced immune response, & extended survival, with added benefits when paired with anti-PD-1 therapy - in mouse models & human trials.
🔥 Cracking the code on metabolism?
A study published in Nature demonstrates that activating the neurokinin-2 receptor (NK2R) in the hypothalamus suppresses appetite & enhances energy expenditure. Using preclinical models, researchers observed significant improvements in glucose regulation, reduced LDL cholesterol levels, weight loss primarily from fat mass, & the preservation of lean muscle tissue.
🥚 Brain food or breakfast staple?
A study in Nutrients examined the link between egg consumption & cognitive decline >4 y in 890 adults aged 55+. While men showed no significant associations, women with higher egg intake experienced slower declines in verbal fluency—a marker of semantic memory & executive function.
🤝 Your social life shapes your Guts?
A Nature study investigated the relationship between gut microbiomes & social networks in 18 isolated Honduran villages, analysing 1,787 adults through social mapping & strain-level microbiome sequencing. Microbial strain-sharing extends beyond family and household ties to friends & second-degree social connections. Socially central individuals have microbiomes more aligned with their community, with strain-sharing linked to interactions, shared meals, & proximity.
🤖 AI Updates
🧬 Sanofi, Formation Bio, & OpenAI launch Muse, an AI tool to accelerate clinical trial recruitment by generating strategies, patient profiles & materials
🌿 Thrive AI Health, backed by Sam Altman & Arianna Huffington, revealed a demo of its AI health coach offering personalised advice on sleep, fitness, stress, & “connection”
🩺 OpenAI's Whisper faces criticism for hallucinations in medical transcription, with reports of fabricated content affecting >30k clinicians & 7M medical visits
🤖 Nvidia plans to deploy robots in hospitals for tasks like linen delivery & X-rays, using AI systems in partnership with digital twin provider Mark III
💻 Oracle released a new AI-powered electronic health record, its most significant update since acquiring Cerner for $28B in 2022, featuring voice-activated navigation & real-time AI insights
🧠 Understanding Zoe, a $10/month AI-powered platform, supports caregivers of neurodivergent children by offering personalised care strategies, reducing emotional load, & bridging school, therapy, & home life
Startup Stuff 🚀
Want to study at Harvard for Investment or Entrepreneurship?
The Harvard Club of Australia is offering 2 scholarships for Aus leaders in investment & entrepreneurship to attend Harvard Business School’s Executive Education Program. - More here
Dreaming of Going Global with Your Health Startup?
The MedTech Actuator Global Navigator Hiroshima-Melbourne program is now open! This growth-stage market access program helps health startups craft global strategies and connect with Aus’s thriving health ecosystem. - More here
Looking to Commercialise Your Research?
CUREator+ accelerates early-stage Aus medical innovations with commercial potential, offering funding, networks, & hands-on mentorship. Round 2 funding apps are open now - More here
Interested in Health Promotion Research?
VicHealth is offering early-career researchers the opportunity to transform health promotion through 3-year fellowships, ft. salary support & $10k project funding. Focus areas include the effects of racism on health, food system inequalities, & building a wellbeing economy - More here
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
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
Events💥
4th Dec: HealthTech Hub Masterclass: Navigating Health Tech Funding (Syd)
4th Dec: CHICC Expert Workshop - From Clinician to Entrepreneur: Lessons & Opportunities in Global Digital Health (Melb)
5th Dec: ACTIVATE 2024 SHOWCASE: Celebrating Victoria’s Digital Health Innovators (Melb)
5th - 12th Dec: ANDHealth - CHICC Office Hours with Liz Ashall-Payne (Melb)
10th Dec: ANDHealth Industry Christmas Celebration (Melb)
10th Dec: ANDHealth Digital Health Summit: From New Frontiers to the Frontline (Melb)
🎄11th Dec: What The Health - Melbourne Healthtech Community Christmas Party 🎄
Consumable Content 💎
🎙️Huberman Lab: Dr. Terry Sejnowski: Mastering Learning & Brain Health
Dr. S delves into how our brains process & store information, sharing strategies (incl. with AI) to master any subject or skill.
📣Max Mollenkopf shared some solid learnings about trying to innovate effectively in GP whilst still turning a profit, creating a good experience and maintaining quality of care.
📚 This new MIT study created a lot of buzz - examining the impact of AI on innovation, focusing on its introduction in the R&D lab of a large US firm.
AI-assisted researchers discovered 44% more materials, sparking a 39% rise in patent filings & 17% growth in product innovation
But the gains weren’t equal—top researchers doubled their output, while lower performers saw little change
AI automated 57% of idea-generation tasks, shifting focus to evaluating AI-generated suggestions
Despite the productivity boost, 82% of scientists reported reduced satisfaction, pointing to decreased creativity & underused skills
📰 Financial Times: A collection of articles on the Future of AI
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Alrighty amigos
Enjoy the silly season and see you real soon
👋 Emily,
Mariah & team WTH
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