– Healthcare Growth Partners’ (HGP) summary of Health IT/digital health mergers & acquisition (M&A) activity, and public company performance during the month of July 2020.
While a pandemic ravages the country, technology valuations are soaring. The Nasdaq hit an all-time high during the month of July, sailing through the 10,000 mark to post YTD gains of nearly 20%, representing a 56% increase off the low water mark on March 23. More notably, the Nasdaq has
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Sun Genomics Nabs $8.65M to Scale Personalized Probiotic Solutions
What You Should Know:
- Sun Genomics raises $8.65M in Series A funding to scale
direct to consumer personalized probiotic solutions based on whole-genome sequencing
diagnostics.
- Flagship product Floré, a microbiome test, and gut probiotics solution utilizes whole-genome sequencing to evaluate different digestive system data points and ensure that customers receive a completely personalized product that is based on their unique gut profiles.
Sun Genomics, a San
Diego, CA-based
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Eliminating the Long, Cumbersome and Costly Diagnosis of Genetic Diseases
Christine Stanley, Ph.D., Chief Director of Clinical Genomics at Variantyx
The answer to questions about human disease can be found in our genes. The difficulty in the past has been the testing process, a sort of trial and error approach of drilling down into the multitude of variants that can be found within the genes, variants that when analyzed in tandem with detailed clinical histories can actually tell the story and lead to a faster diagnosis.
Human beings carry around 20,000 genes
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Fitbit Launches Ready for Work Program to Help Employers Manage Workplace Health During COVID-19
What You Should Know:
- Fitbit launches new Ready for Work program to help
organizations with the unprecedented challenge of returning to the workplace
during the COVID-19 health crisis.
- The program combines key health biometrics from Fitbit devices along with symptom and temperature tracking into an easy-to-use daily check-in that provides employees with a recommendation on whether to go to work or stay home and seek medical care.
- Early research shows that resting heart rate data
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Consumer Genetic Tests Accelerate Precision Medicine for Some Providers
Joel Diamond, MD, FAAFP, Chief Medical Officer at 2bPrecise
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests have been on the scene for some time now. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first DTC test on three specific BRCA1/BRCA2 breast cancer gene mutations more than two years ago. Six months after that, the agency similarly green-lighted a DTC pharmacogenomic (PGx) test to examine 33 variants for eight different genes that indicate how effectively patients metabolize specific
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2020 MedTech Breakthrough Award Winners Announced
What You Should Know:
- MedTech Breakthrough announces 2020 MedTech Breakthrough Award Winners that recognizes the top companies, people, platforms, and products in the health, fitness, and medical technology industries today.
- The 2020 MedTech Breakthrough Awards program is open to all individuals, companies, and organizations involved in producing digital health and medical technology products and services.
MedTech
Breakthrough, a market intelligence organization that
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The DNA Company Acquires AI Digital Therapeutics App for $30M to Form My Next Health
What You Should Know:
- DNA Company acquires AI-based digital therapeutics app My Pain Sensei (MPS) to form My Next Health and is building a COVID-19 risk assessment platform to help people understand their risks of developing serious COVID-19 complications.
- The acquisition combines functional genomics with conversational AI for patient self-management apps and disease tracking tools designed to inform clinician-patient interactions.
Leading functional genomics provider The
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Machine Learning Will Transform Medicine, but Only if We Use it Right
Natalie LaFranzo, Ph.D. is VP, Market Development of Cofactor Genomics
World chess champion Garry Kasparov made headlines all over the world in 1997 for something that he probably wasn’t very excited about. He lost a chess match. To a computer.
It was an IBM supercomputer called Deep Blue and its victory in that New York City match marked the first time a reigning world chess champion had been defeated by a computer under tournament conditions. It was also a symbolically significant event,
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In-Depth: 32 FDA-Approved COVID-19 Testing Kits
What You Should Know:
- In-depth look list of FDA-approved COVID-19 test kits
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) offers emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for unapproved products or new uses for approved items in urgent situations where no suitable alternatives exist. Dozens of companies have sought and received EUAs for their testing kits that screen for SARS-CoV-2 — more commonly referred to as COVID-19 or the novel coronavirus.
The FDA makes a
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Intel Launches $50M Pandemic Response Technology Initiative to Combat Coronavirus
What You Should Know:
- Intel pledges an additional $50 million in a pandemic response technology initiative to combat the coronavirus through accelerating access to technology at the point of patient care.
- Intel is committed to accelerating access to technology that can combat the current COVID-19 pandemic and enable new technology and the scientific discovery that better prepares society for future crises.
Intel is pledging an additional $50 million in a pandemic response
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