Trumps banning words and laying claims about transgender mice. Our election is almost on its way, and NHS England is being abolished (?) in the UK?
Anyway…
It was great to see a bunch of people yesterday at Australian Health Week - including some of our Sydney WTH Private Communtiy crew bright and early for coffee ☕️ And having fun yapping with some legends about Startup commercialisation.
Cue terrible selfie & yapping with Kumaran Mani (Astrazeneca), Densearn Seo (Gravida Health) & Joseph Po (UNSW Founders)
Keen to come hang with us and ~8000 odd other legends across healthcare?
We’re giving WTH community members (and future members 😉) a chance to attend the biggest (and imo best) digital health events of the year— FREE!
📅 May 13-14 📍 Melbourne
So - what do you need to do?
Just APPLY to the next intake for our next WTH Private Community Crew 🍩 which will be accepting members from May and officially kicking off in June
What is the WTH Private Community again?
TLDR: A vetted, community for health innovators— With hundreds of members across startups, healthcare, government, academia, and more. Ft.
💬 Private Slack Channel: Connect with health & tech peers. 📖 Member Directory: Find key connections. 🥂 Exclusive Events (IRL & Virtual): Learn from industry leaders. 📼 Resources & Recordings: Access years of valuable content. 🧑🏻🏫 1:1 Office Hours: Get personalised advice from experts. 💸 Perks & Freebies: Discounts and exclusive offers. 📣 Featured Content: Share news and insights across WTH channels.
PS - Current WTH Private Community Members you get them too. Check your emails 💌
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The BiVACOR total artificial heart is the world’s first implantable rotary blood pump that can act as a complete replacement for a human heart.
🧬 WEHI:
Partnered with Moderna in an Aus-first collab to develop mRNA medicines for autoimmune diseases like lupus, Graves’, & coeliac disease using Moderna’s platform tech
💻 Medibankfinished its acquisition of Medinet, a virtual health platform, to expand digital healthcare services, integrating into its Digital & Ventures division
💤 Avecho Biotechnology signed a 10-year exclusive deal with Sandoz for its CBD insomnia treatment, securing $4.8M upfront plus milestone payments & royalties
🕸️ IVF & Fertility provider Genea was the latest to be hit with a cyber attack, seeing patient data hit the dark web
Gov Goss
💊 Aus’s PBS will list new & amended subsidies for contraception, endometriosis, & IVF, reducing costs & improving access for >100k women annually from May 1
🧑🔬 Australia’s R&D is in a 13-year slide and there’s been some fun commentary on it
🏥 UK gov announced plans to abolish NHS England, shifting control back to the Dept of Health & Social Care (DoH&SC), to cut bureaucracy & decentralised decision-making
TL;DR: No, the NHS isn’t being scrapped—but NHS England is, & that’s a major shakeup.
Think of the NHS like a football team: the gov DoH&SC is the club owner (funding it), & NHS England is the manager (setting the strategy). Now, mid-season, the manager is out, & the gov is taking full control.
AstraZeneca is set to buy EsoBiotec for up to US$1 billion, to get access to their“off the shelf” Engineered NanoBody Lentiviral (ENaBL) platform
The lentiviruses can deliver genetic instructions to T cells to recognize and destroy either tumor cells for cancer treatment or potentially autoreactive cells for immune-mediated diseases which could allow for cell therapy treatments in just minutes instead of the current process which can take weeks
🧠 Headspace partnered with the U.S. Navy to provide 25k Sailors & families with 24/7 mental health coaching, care navigation, & wellbeing content in a first-of-its-kind pilot program
📈 Hinge Healthfiled for an IPO under HNGE, reporting $390.4M revenue in 2024, as the digital MSK care platform moves toward public listing despite market volatility
💆♂️ Aescape, an AI robotic massage startup, raised $83M led by Valor Equity Partners to scale operations, expand markets, & grow partnerships with Equinox, Four Seasons, & Marriott
Northwestern Uni researchers developed a compact gene cassette that directly converts skin cells into motor neurons with unprecedented efficiency. Their optimised process boosts neuron yield by >1,000%, generating >10 motor neurons/ cell seeded. These lab-grown neurons show electrical activity & successfully integrated into the mouse central nervous system.
📝 Do AI Scribes really ease doctor burnout?
A quality improvement study from the Uni of Pennsylvaniatested if AI ambient scribing tools lighten doctors’ documentation work. Among 46 clinicians across 17 specialties, it cut note-writing time by 20%, increased same-day closures by 9%, & reduced after-hours work by 30%. But the qualitative feedback was mixed - doctors felt more engaged but struggled with editing AI-generated notes, often cancelling out time saved. The net promoter score was 0, showing an equal likelihood to recommend or not.
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Need Funding for Therapeutic Development?
TIA’s Pipeline Accelerator vouchers offer up to $50k (with 50% co-investment) to subsidise access to leading research facilities. This round partners withPhenomics Australia, ANSTO’s NDF, & Bioplatforms Australia, expanding access to infrastructure. – More here
Looking to Boost International Science Collaboration?
ATSE, in partnership with the Aus Academy of Science, is offering grants of up to $1M each through the Global Science & Tech Diplomacy Fund to foster science & tech collabs with regional neighbours - More here
Need Funding for Industry-Led Research?
CRC-P Round 17 is open! Secure matched funding for short-term, industry-led research collabs to develop new technology, product or service, aligned with National Science & Research Priorities & the National Reconstruction Fund- More here
Want to Advance Neurogenomics Research?
TheANS Illumina Neurogenomics Research Award offers AU$100k+ in sequencing & array processing to support ANS researchers in generating data for future funding applications. The winner will gain access to the Illumina Innovation Collective lab in Melb - More here
Ready to take your health venture from Seed to Series A?
The MedTech Actuator Accelerator is a 9-month program that provides access to industry experts, investors, & a global network - More here
Got game-changing ideas to transform General Practice?
Join the RACGP Hackathon 2025: Byte the Bureaucracy, a 3-day event bringing GPs, clinical entrepreneurs, & developers together to tackle real-world challenges in GP. Held at Microsoft Reactor Syd from 28–30 March, this event offers the chance to brainstorm, prototype, & present solutions to digital health experts - More here
Ready to turn your biotech idea into a commercial success?
BioElevatebyJumar is a 2-day hands-on workshop designed to guide you through the commercialisation process step-by-step - More here
Emi Gal, Founder & CEO of Ezra, discusses the potential & controversy surrounding full-body MRI scans as a tool for early cancer detection
💻 Protege created the Healthcare AI Market Map, outlining key AI solutions transforming the industry, categorised in three areas: providers & patients, life sciences, & AI infrastructure
