#235 - Tales of the Unexpected
The one-minute healthtech roundup, brought to you by SomX.
Hi friends,
This week: Women’s health startups take on big tech advertising rules, healthtech advancements for Fido and Moggy, and AI predicts things — some better than others.
Your friends all listen to podcasts. Be interesting at your next dinner party by listening to the Healthtech Pigeon podcast ➡️ James from SomX breaks down the best stories from this week’s newsletter with help from LongeVC's Artem Trotsyuk and Sergey Jakimov. Available now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
News Bites 🥪
🏴 NHS Scotland leads UK in digital health with rapid expansion of Phio tech The highland-based NHS team have just released data showing the successful integration of the platform into its primary care systems, as a model for wider adoption. We’re big Phio fans here at Pigeon HQ. Let’s face it. We don’t have the best posture.
🤐 Startups take on big tech: women’s health companies file EU complaints over digital censorship – Menopause. Sexual wellbeing. Endometriosis. All things we can talk about here, but which we’re not allowed to advertise on Facebook. 6 of the most high profile women’s health companies out there have teamed up to tackle the constraints levied on their marketing by big tech advertising rules.
💽 Data chiefs raise concerns about NHS federated data platform – No, you haven’t travelled back in time to 2023. Yes we’re still arguing about the FDP (we have a fun explainer episode of the podcast somewhere in the archive if you want a quick catch up). The latest criticism raised (by people who really do know quite a bit) is that the FDP, a national platform, can’t meet the local needs effectively.
🚪Digital health company Hinge Health files for US IPO – A sign of things to come? The MSK giant is looking to make its debut on the public markets very soon, but Pigeon’s impatient, and can’t help but wonder whether this could be an early indicator that more healthtech unicorns could be planning to do the same.
🧠 Artificial intelligence predicts adolescent mental health risk before symptoms emerge – Forget the fact that ‘p-factor’ sounds like a 1980s game show concept dreamed up by…well, us. It’s actually a powerful summary score of mental health, and an AI is learning to predict the emergence of issues in a way that could pre-empt care.
🦾 Will an AI recognize patient deterioration in the ICU? Not quite yet – While AI takes a victory lap for mental health, it’s not quite there for predicting who in the emergency room that day might not be going home again. WIth no idea how to estimate the likelihood of certain injuries leading to…y’know…, we’re a way off a real-world deployment.
✂️ Cancer tests and virtual wards targeted for new cuts – When you go from ‘cuts’ to ‘abolition in the space of 24 hours, Pigeon has to admit, we’re struggling to keep up (we’re weekly, after all). We’re going to have to wait a little longer to see the full picture of what this means for the national healthtech agenda, but could this be a first glimpse.
🦀 History beckons as Healx doses first rare cancer patient with AI-created drug – British biotech Healx made history this week by dosing the first patients with HLX-1502, an AI-developed treatment for neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a rare and deadly form of cancer. Want to find out more? Listen to James chat to the LongeVC team in this week’s podcast. Want to see something similar? Maybe subscribe to Biotech Dodo?
😺 'Investor Kevin O'Leary made over 20 times his money on a cat test startup – Look, we’re taking a break from sharing this week’s episode of the 23andMe saga to introduce you to the feline alternative. The well-known celebrity investor snapped up Basepaws, a startup selling at-home genetic tests for cats, selling it in an eye-watering deal worth upwards of $50m.
🔞 Anti-aging pills for your dogs move closer to FDA approval - Dog lovers in the US may be able to give their much loved pets a new lease of life thanks to an anti-aging pill for dogs receiving the green light from the FDA. It’s not doggy immortality, but could it mean a bit longer with man’s best friend?
What to listen to 🔊
Events 📅
WIRED Health
🕣 March 18
📍 London
Digital Health Rewired
🕣 March 18 - 19
📍 Birmingham
Start Summit, St Gallen
🕣 March 20 - 21
📍 Switzerland
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 🕵️♀️
👉 Consultant, Public Health Solutions, Operations Industry & Domain Solutions, Technology & Transformation Deloitte – Do you have a background in healthcare and experience of delivering large transformation programmes? This role is ideal for anyone with a track record in digital transformation and electronic patient record (EPR) implementation.
👀 Specialist Technician - Health Simulation, Weston College Group – Looking for a new technical role in health simulation? One of the fastest growing colleges in the UK are looking for somone to run the day to day operation of their simulation rooms.
🔬 Research Fellow in Regulatory Science for Healthcare AI, Brunel University – Are you an academic with a background in healthcare and AI? Here’s an opportunity to contribute to a high-impact AI platform that predicts health outcomes, supports personalized treatments, and enhances patient care through data-driven insights.
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.