Hi friends,
This week: Pigeon beaks some AI news, questionable investments, and there’s a ruckus brewing for the federated data platform
News Bites 🥪
🚨 PIGEON EX-COO-SIVE: AI self-care platform Healthily lifts the lid on its new health information chatbot, ‘DOT’ - By integrating Large Language models with the company’s own vast library of 2500+ clinically-validated articles, the company is seeking to deliver the first usable chatbot to help users easily understand their own health, with an integrated triage system that kicks in when a user mentions potential symptoms. Pigeon can admit to being skeptical about the near-term impact of LLM-powered chatbots in the past; can Healthily CEO Matteo Berlucchi persuade us theirs is a viable way forward? Find out on this week’s Healthtech Pigeon podcast.
📲 NHS virtual wards available for 10,000 patients by September - Big promises from NHS England here - not least that you might still be able to do your gardening when being cared for on a virtual ward. Pigeon suspects that case study was the exception rather than the rule.
🩻 AI in pathology: We need to start with 'easier' cases and grow to maturity - Sure, you knew AI was being widely assessed as a transformative tool for radiology. But all the cool kids are thinking about how it could be deployed in radiology’s less mainstream cousin Pathology….
💪 The Resilience of Early-stage European Healthtech - You’ve probably heard people say European healthtech funding is down in 2023 (not Pigeon of course, we wouldn’t be so reductive). But are the doom-mongers right or is it not everything as it seems? The Octopus Ventures team takes a closer look, and what they find might surprise you…
😳 Patient data: more than half of UK public don’t trust AI - Wait, we’re confused: last week 90% of us were happy to let the NHS use our data for any reason whatsoever; This week, we don’t trust AI. Pigeon’s got two theories: 1) Joe Public is fickle, and needs to make up their mind. 2) public attitudes surveys are bulls**t. We’ll let you decide…
💊 Prima Materia makes third startup investment — into longevity - Here’s a quick verbal reasoning quiz for you – What comes next in this sequence: Music streaming, Body scanning, Democracy-preserving defence-tech. For Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek, the answer is apparently….small molecule drugs to slow the aging process, affordable for the average joe…and their dog.
Want to get involved…?
❓Survey: Have you experienced vaginal itching or discharge? - Most women will be bothered by infections such as thrush or bacterial vaginosis (BV) throughout their life and some suffer with horrendous recurrent infections that significantly affect them. Pigeon friend and Women’s Health Expert Dr Michelle Griffin is conducting research on this condition. Whether you have experienced this or not, your responses to this anonymous survey will greatly help women suffering from bacterial vaginosis
🏆 GSK IMPACT Awards | The King's Fund - Are you a charity working to improve people’s health and wellbeing. The GSK Impact Awards, managed in partnership with the Kings Fund, are returning for 2024. And that’s not all - new for 2024, the GSK Health Inequalities Programme is designed to support small charities working on reducing health inequalities. Apply now!
What to listen to 🔊
🐦 Healthtech Pigeon - We need to talk about chatbots - Join James, Huw and Healthily CEO Matteo Berlucchi as they take a deep-dive into the week’s healthtech news and views.
🔊 The Healthtech Podcast #314 How we built a $30M healthtech startup by scrapping our business strategy - James is joined by Piotr Orzechowski, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Infermedica, one of the leading AI health companies dedicated to improving the process of preliminary symptom analysis and digital triage.
Events 📅
Health Features Launch Event - Youtube Health
🕣 September 7, 2.00-10.00pm
📍 YouTube UK HQ, 6 Pancras Square London
MedFIT - Fostering Innovation in Medtech
🕣 October 10, 8.30am-6.15pm
📍 Strasbourg Convention Centre, France
MedTech World Summit
🕣 19-20 October
📍 Valletta, Malta
Use the code ‘FlyingtoMedTechMalta’ for 25% off your ticket.
Opportunities 🕵️♀️
🔪 Senior Frontend Developer, Scalpel - Scalpel are making surgery safer by transforming and securing the surgical supply chain for everyone involved. Go and join the team and make a difference.
📝 Compliance Manager, Limbic - Limbic are making mental healthcare available everywhere with cutting-edge and clinically validated AI. They’re looking for an experienced compliance champion to manage information security and quality management systems.
🌊 Content Lead - Health Assistant - Flo Health inc. - We’ve only got good things to say about Flo Health, and their content is first-rate. If you’re looking to join a company at the top of their game, leading on content around a key product, this is your chance.
🍌 Digital Health Fellow, Skin Analytics - No crystal ball needed here, AI is being used to improve dermatological care now, and Skin Analytics are at the forefront. Join the team for a year as a Digital health Fellow and immerse yourself in AI-enabled care.
🌴 Health Coaching Lead, UK, Eucalyptus - Eucalyptus say they think healthcare can be fun and exciting. We agree. If you do too, and you’re keen to help grow their health coaching offering in the UK, why not apply and be a part of the fun.
🐩 Project Manager, Intersystems - Intersystems is a big dog in the health data world, and here’s a great opportunity to join the team.
Got news, jobs or events you think is worth coo-ing over? Let us know! Email us: news@healthtechpigeon.com
At SomX, we are clinicians, scientists, creatives and communicators dedicated to elevating healthtech and biotech. For our clients, we provide communications strategy, multimedia content marketing, public relations, events and branding/design services. Get in touch to find out how we can support your healthtech company.