#219 - Everyone deserves a second chance
The one-minute healthtech roundup, brought to you by SomX.
Hi friends,
This week: a tale of resilience, startup founders spilling the tea on what they would like to see in the space (some free biz ideas here people!) and robot pigeons ruling the NHS.
Love healthtech, hate reading? 👀 Listen to the Healthtech Pigeon podcast ➡️ Amy and James from SomX break down the best stories from this week’s newsletter with help from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust's Dr Gareth Thompson, and segments from Jason C. Foster and Vijay Luthra exploring the future of US healthcare. Available now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
News Bites 🥪
🤐 Ali Parsa raises funding from Norrsken for secretive new AI healthtech – In the wise words of the late, great Aaliyah*, "If at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again”. The Babylon Health founder and recent healthtech recluse is tight-lipped about his latest endeavour: an "AI agent for healthcare," with potential tools for insurers or automating back-office processes. Second time lucky?
💰 Swedish startup Yazen Health raises €19.5M to combat obesity across Europe – In case it wasn’t clear, basically every company is now a weight-loss company. Among this week’s contenders are Yazen Health, a Swedish platform addressing obesity with GLP-1 medications and lifestyle coaching. They’ve just scored €19.5 million in a record-breaking Series A to drive their expansion into Spain, Norway, and the Netherlands, with more growth planned in the UK and Germany.
🧠 Researchers Create Cell-Level Wearable Devices to Restore Neuron Function – Sci-fi level stuff here for you neuro-nerds: Tiny, wireless devices wrap around individual neurons, closing gaps and opening up exciting new ways to treat disorders such as multiple sclerosis. Imagine thousands of battery-free devices work inside the body simultaneously, setting the stage for minimally invasive neural interfaces with endless possibilities.
🥂 NICE trumpets new standard for health AI evaluations – How do we decide which AI-based health innovations get reimbursed for use in the NHS? The answer: it’s not easy, and NICE’s have decided their assessment process for these tools needs a revamp before we get too far down this road. Enter CHEERS-AI (interesting acronym work there, but let’s move on), which will set the specific standards for health AI evaluation.
3️⃣ 3 Types of Startups that Healthcare Leaders Want to See More Of – If you’re startup is turning clinical research into widely-used care, helping patients be better engaged with their health between hospital visits, or turning cool innovations into single, integrated platforms that can be used and adopted at scale, 2025 could be a good year for your business. If not, have you considered a pivot…or a holiday?
🚺 Vara Secures $8.9M to Expand AI Breast Cancer Detection Platform – Vara’s AI technology is helping detect 50% of cancers that might have been missed by radiologists, reducing false positives and boosting workflow efficiency. With $8.9 million in new funding, Vara is set to scale globally, with a focus on improving early detection and preventive care.
✏️ AI outperforms doctors in diagnostics but falls short as a clinical assistant – A recent study tested whether AI, like ChatGPT, could help doctors with diagnoses. While LLMs performed better on their own than doctors using traditional tools, they didn’t boost doctors’ diagnostic reasoning when used together. The takeaway? LLMs are great at diagnosing on their own, but they’re not quite ready to replace human expertise**.
🤖 How robots can turn the NHS from a cost centre to an economic driver – Finally! We always knew the Penguins were worth the investment. Wait…this isn’t about the Penguins? Fine. Robot experts believe embracing robots could help the NHS boost efficiency, while also stimulating to economic growth, creating high-skilled jobs, and positionining the UK as a global leader in healthcare innovation. Well…they would say that wouldn’t they?***
What to listen to 🔊
Events 📅
Healthcare AI Governance
🕣 Nov 11
📍 Online
Medica 2024
🕣 Nov 11-14
📍 Düsseldorf, Germany
BMJ Future Health 2024 - Use the code SOMXFH50 for a little Pigeon treat.
🕣 Nov 19-20
📍 London
From Treatment to Prevention - How will new policy affect Mental Health Innovation
🕣 Nov 22
📍 London
Digital Health Conference
🕣 Nov 28
📍 Berlin
Visit the SomX events page or subscribe to SomX’s events roundup to see all of the best upcoming healthtech, biotech and healthcare events.
Opportunities 🕵️♀️
🎨Global Clinical Director of Innovation & Experience, HeliosX Group – If you’ve got the skills to provide clinical leadership and direction for new product initiatives, ensuring healthtech solutions are evidence-based and designed to improve patient outcomes, and of course, you want to be at the cutting edge of healthcare technology, Pigeon might just have the perfect role for you. You lucky bugger!
📖DTAC Squirrel™ Innovation Fund, Acorn Compliance– Pigeon knows compliance and regulation can sometimes feel like a whole different language. So, if you want the chance to win a free 12-month subscription to the DTAC Squirrel™ Automated Compliance Platform to help make the process a little less confusing, apply for the DTAC Squirrel™ Innovation Fund today!
👩💻 Senior Product Manager, Heim (previously Ally Health) — Pigeon loves a challenge! If it weren’t already dedicated to bringing you the best weekly healthtech newsletter, it might have applied for this role itself! If you're curious, love diving under the hood, and thrive on the challenge of enhancing core functionalities, apply today for the role of Senior Product Manager!
*[For the uninitiated, Aaliyah, like Pigeon, is also on Spotify - Ed.]
**As if they’ll ever!
***Ignore this joke. Pigeon is obsessed (in a good way) with the National Robotarium, and is impatiently waiting for our invite to come visit so we can literally embrace robots.
Got news, jobs or events you think is worth coo-ing over? Let us know! Email us: news@healthtechpigeon.com
Healthtech Pigeon is curated and produced by SomX, the communications and creative agency for healthcare. We are clinicians, scientists, creatives and communicators dedicated to serving our healthtech, biotech, pharma and public sector clients with services across strategy, content, PR, design, events and media production. Get in touch to learn more.