From AI Health Assistants to LATAM HealthTech Expansion

👋🏼 Healthcare Innovators ❤️

Sponsor Pulse Disruption | New Here? Subscribe! | Post in our Job Board 

🌐 Healthcare x Tech

Ketamine Therapy Poised to Emerge as Hot New Workplace Benefit

A small but growing number of employers now offer ketamine-assisted therapy as a covered mental health benefit. Companies like Dr. Bronner's, 15Five, and Enthea administer plans helping staff access the promising treatment. While still early and risky, the regulatory environment is shifting as research on ketamine and psychedelics advances.

Approved for depression and legally available, ketamine is increasingly reimbursed by specialty administrators. As data mounts and stigma fades, traditional insurers may follow. Offering trips could attract talent struggling with PTSD, anxiety, OCD and more. The unconventional perk also boosts presenteeism and retains teams. Still in its infancy, savvy employers are getting a head start on the next frontier of mental health.

Read More +

Real-World Data: Diabetes Med Mounjaro Outperforms Ozempic for Weight Loss

A large preprint study analyzing actual patient records found the injected diabetes medication Mounjaro delivered greater average weight loss than competitor Ozempic. At 6 months, Mounjaro users dropped 10% of body weight versus 6% for Ozempic.

Both GLP-1 drugs reduce appetite and are newly popular for weight control. But Mounjaro also activates an additional gut hormone. The analysis included 18K overweight adults, 52% having diabetes, suggesting strong results even for non-diabetics using off-label.

While not a controlled head-to-head trial, real-world data echoes expectations from clinical testing. As the drugs gain traction, the study offers doctors and consumers initial comparative effectiveness insights.

Read More +

💰  Healthcare x Startups

GE HealthCare showcases AI at RSNA: GE HealthCare will be highlighting its AI technology at RSNA 2023, with a focus on putting unused healthcare data to use to help providers optimize care. The company will be showcasing its App Orchestrator, an application orchestration solution that can give customers easy access to multiple applications from multiple companies, and CardioVisio, an AFiB patient management dashboard designed to save time, improve clinical confidence, and deliver precision care.

Pear Therapeutics raises $50M for mental health: Pear Therapeutics, a Boston, MA-based company, has raised $50 million in a Series E funding round led by Temasek and GV. The funds will be used to support the development and commercialization of digital therapeutics for mental health disorders, including schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety.

2Morrow Bio raises $50M for new approach to treating Alzheimer's disease: 2Morrow Bio, a South San Francisco, CA-based company, has raised $50 million in a Series A funding round led by Fidelity Biosciences. The funds will be used to support the development of a new approach to treating Alzheimer's disease by targeting a protein that is thought to play a role in the disease.

Somryst raises $24M for novel sleep therapeutics: Somryst, a South San Francisco, CA-based company, has raised $24 million in a Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. The funds will be used to support the development and commercialization of novel sleep therapeutics that target a specific brain circuit involved in sleep regulation.

TrialSpark raises $20M for decentralized clinical trials platform: TrialSpark, a San Francisco, CA-based company, has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Khosla Ventures. The funds will be used to support the development and commercialization of a decentralized clinical trials platform that uses technology to make it easier and more affordable to conduct clinical trials.

Radar Fit Bags $5M to Scale Corporate Wellness App in Brazil

Radar Fit, a Brazilian healthtech using AI and gamification for corporate wellbeing, secured $5M jointly from WE Ventures and Hiker Ventures. The investment fuels expansion nationally and future international growth plans.

Radar Fit’s personalized app offers fitness, nutrition, and mental health content to engage users in healthy habits. For employers, it boosts productivity and retains talent while making them PAT eligible for ESG tax benefits.

With strong traction serving 60+ Brazilian companies and 700K+ people already, Radar Fit has a proven solution. But the founding team also won over impact-driven WE Ventures for their mulheres entrepreneurial potential gaining a powerful ally and advocate.

Read More +

🕰️ Blasts from the Past: This Week in Medical History

November 22, 1990 - President George H.W. Bush signs the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, returning Native American cultural items and human remains to their respective peoples.

November 23, 1914 - The American Medical Association establishes a philanthropic institution called The Rockefeller Foundation, which provides major funding for medical research and education over the next century.

November 24, 1859 - Charles Darwin's book "On the Origin of Species" is published, detailing his theory of evolution through natural selection and revolutionizing the life sciences.

November 25, 2002 - Ireland bans smoking from all indoor workplaces, including bars and restaurants, marking a major public health achievement.

November 27, 1978 - Over 900 members of the American public line up to be vaccinated against H1N1 influenza in the first human tests of a swine flu vaccine.

November 28, 1895 - American bacteriologist Anna Williams publishes her findings on the relationship between infectious microorganisms and surgical infections, emphasized the importance of antisepsis.

November 29, 2019 - Chinese researcher He Jiankui receives prison sentence after controversially creating the first gene-edited babies using CRISPR technology in 2018.

🧠 Healthcare x AI

Forward Health Launches Scalable “CarePods” Offering AI-Enabled Preventative Care

Forward Health aims to expand access to primary care with the debut of CarePods - standalone stations providing diagnostic tests without an on-site doctor. Users follow touchscreen prompts to get blood drawn, heart rate checked, and more for $99 monthly.

Powered by custom natural language processing models, Forward then reviews results and prescribes next steps. Founder Adrian Aoun envisions the pods achieving massive reach, enabling healthcare to finally scale.

CarePods exemplify Forward's mission to make vital health services ubiquitously available. While seemingly too ambitious, the concept builds on six years of product iteration and medical oversight. Broad rollout starts in 2023.

Read More +

Toku's AI "Reads" Retina to Predict Heart Risk in 20 Seconds

Toku is pioneering cardiovascular diagnostics through retinal imaging and AI. Its platform, CLAiR, scans the eye's blood vessels to calculate heart disease likelihood rapidly and non-invasively.

Recently earning FDA breakthrough status, CLAiR could reach market by 2025 pending pivotal trials. Toku then plans rollout across optometry clinics, leveraging existing camera infrastructure. CLAiR alerts patients and doctors to intervene earlier, circumventing conventional testing.

While not the first retinal CV screening startup, founder Ehsan Vaghefi's personal vision for preventative tech at population scale drove Toku's founding. Its privacy-centric data practices also address key healthcare AI concerns. Toku aims to make early heart risk identification ubiquitously accessible through a quick glance inside the eye.

Read More +

🌎  Healthcare x LATAM

Mexican Healthtech Meddi Secures $1.7M to Bring Quality Care to Latin America

Meddi, an innovative Mexican healthcare startup, closed a $1.7M seed round led by Medical Device Resources to expand regional access to its wellness services. The 2018-founded startup provides a health platform via SaaS, including insurance coverage, pharmacy benefits, and subscription gym access.

Having benefited 540K+ users already, co-founders Pablo Aguirre and Roberto Riesta aim to accelerate growth across Latin America with fresh capital. They share a vision for affordable, optimal health for all through real-time research and tech-enabled delivery models.

This funding validates investor confidence in Meddi's model and societal impact. By continuously improving accessibility and care quality, Meddi cements its position as an emerging healthtech leader in the region. The startup now looks to extend its reach to spark lasting change for more communities lacking healthcare access.

Read More +

That’s all for this week.
The Pulse Disruption Team