#245 - Lie down on Pigeon's couch 🛋️
The one-minute healthtech roundup, brought to you by SomX.
Hey friends,
This week: The 23andMe saga continues, digital inclusion under the microscope, and what will it take to digitise adult social care in the NHS?
Your friends all listen to podcasts. Feel like you’re in on the conversation by listening to the Healthtech Pigeon podcast ➡️ SomX’s Belle Taylor and Amy Thomas dive into the weeks’ healthtech stories with the help of The Health Foundation’s Tom Hardie. Available now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
News Bites 🥪
🧬 23andMe and its customers’ data sold to US pharma giant – Incredibly, the saga continues. 23andMe’s assets are sold to Regeneron for $256 million after its recent bankruptcy filing, a steep drop from its $6 billion glory-day-valuation. Regeneron says it will keep 23andMe’s consumer genetic services running while tapping into its massive DNA database to fuel drug development. But don’t worry, Regeneron swears your genetic secrets are in safe hands...
🤝 Oracle, Cleveland Clinic And The UAE’s G42 Are Developing A Health AI Platform— Here’s What We Know – The trio are pooling their tech, clinical, and AI expertise with a stated aim of better patient outcomes and lower costs through population health data and advanced analytics. It’s a big, shiny promise, with few details so far. But hey, big names, big data, big dreams… what could possibly go wrong?
🤖 Can AI therapists really be an alternative to human help? – With waitlists for mental health services now stretching into eternity, some people are turning to AI chatbots for a bit of emotional support and light night pep talks. Experts warn they’re more like enthusiastic amateurs than real therapists. Consider Pigeon in the “a little concerned about safety and privacy camp”, where we’re in good company.
🔬 Digital Inclusion Under the Microscope as Digital Poverty Alliance launches NHS Sector Inquiry – Full-blown digitally-enabled healthcare sounds great, but only if everyone can actually log in to their apps. Professor Farah Bhatti will lead the inquiry into digital inclusion in healthcare, stressing that innovation is only helpful if it’s accessible to all. Pigeon might have been squawking this from the rooftops for the better part of 4 years, but now its written in a newsletter too.
💰 Swiss HealthTech company ReproNovo raises €57 million to tackle declining fertility rates – The Swiss startup on a mission to fix fertility for both men and women, just secured a cheeky €57 million in Series A funding. They're developing two oral treatments – one for male infertility and another for adenomyosis, a common but often overlooked uterine condition. Backed by a seasoned team and big-name investors, they’re tackling some major gaps in fertility care for both men and women.
💻 Time to rethink how we evaluate digital technologies in healthcare – Professor Kathrin Cresswell points out that old-school evaluations – think expensive, slow trials – aren’t great for judging digital health tools. Measuring only ‘time saved’ misses the bigger picture, like unexpected benefits or new challenges that pop up later. She calls for smarter, flexible ways to track how these tools really change healthcare over time.
📝 Digitising the NHS and adult social care – The UK government is aiming to bring the NHS and social care into the digital age, but it's going to take more than just good intentions. It’ll take a clear vision, a solid plan, and about £13 billion over the next five years. Curious about the details but not up for an 18-minute read? Don’t worry, Pigeon pulled some strings. We had one of the report’s authors, Tom Hardie, on the Pigeon podcast to break it all down.
What to listen to 🔊
Events 📅
Not one, not two, but three featured events… and as they say, three’s a charm 🪄
FEATURED: Techsperts, this one’s for you. Google Cloud’s Future of Health and Life Sciences Tech Forum - June 6th, 2025, London
Calling all technical experts, data scientists, machine learning engineers and founders at the forefront of healthcare, life sciences, and biotech - Google Cloud is throwing open it’s doors and you’re invited. Prepare for a day full day of practical insights, deep technical sessions, and exclusive hands-on-access to Google’s frontier technologies.
FEATURED: Get in, we’re going to Amsterdam - 20 days until HLTH Europe! - June 16-19th, 2025, Amsterdam
With just under three weeks to go, there is still time to bag a ticket and avoid the dreaded post-HLTH FOMO. We’re excited, you’re excited, everyone’s excited, so don’t miss the boat (both literally and figuratively). HE25_SOMX250 gets lovely 250 euros off your ticket. What are you waiting for?!
FEATURED: The Glastonbury of Healthtech is coming to Oxfordshire! Join us at THE FIX! - September 18th, 2025, Harwell Science Campus
Women’s Health, Longevity, Psychedelics, AI, mental health and a host of other hot topics are set be covered at a healthtech festival like no other. Expect counter-intuitive formats, fresh ideas and hangouts with industry rockstars! Use the code SOMX15 for 15% off your ticket price.
SXSW London
⏰ June 2-7
📍 London
Radical Health
⏰ June 3-7
📍 Helsini, FInland
Money 20/20
⏰ June 3-4
📍 Amsterdam
Agentic AI in Healthcare
⏰ June 4
📍 London
London Tech Week
⏰ June 9-13
📍 London
HMISS Paris
⏰ June 10-12
📍 Paris
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 🕵️♀️
🏆 Head of Innovation in Mental Health, Wellcome – An exciting opportunity to play a key role in transforming mental health innovation globally. So if you have extensive experience of leading product development teams, a strategic thinker and looking for your next big break, you know what to do.
🤓 Clinician Specialist, Consumer Health, Google Health –If developing intelligent and intuitive tools that help improve users' health journeys sounds like your idea of a good time, then why not apply for this role – because that’s exactly what you’ll get to do all day, every day. Amongst other things Pigeon guesses.
🧑⚕️ Associate Medical Director of Women’s Health, Allara –Allara is on a mission to revolutionise women's healthcare by providing expert, non-judgmental care that goes beyond the basics. So, if you have a keen interest in women's health and are looking for your next clinical leadership position, then look no further!
🐢 Intern in Clinical Artificial Intelligence, TORTUS– In this case, slow and steady does in fact not win the race! If you have a clinical background and a strong interest in clinical AI and safety why not apply for this internship at TORTUS? Pigeon has a sneaky feeling this one will be in high demand, so get your applications in early!
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.