#256 Regulation is sexy
The one-minute healthtech roundup, brought to you by SomX.
Hi friends,
This week: A lot of regulations! From best practice and nice ideas to questionable theories, and full blown law-suits. Major questions this week about data, safety and trust. Phew, it’s pretty intense.
Your friends all listen to podcasts. Feel like you’re in on the conversation by listening to the Healthtech Pigeon podcast ➡️ SomX’s Jessica Somauroo and Amy Thomas chat with Benedikt von Thüngen from Sanome on this week’s pod, one not to miss! Available now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
News Bites 🥪
📈 MEMORI becomes first UK-built, certified software-as-a-medical device for real-time infection prediction - Yep, you heard that right, Regulation is sexy. And in the raunchiest of all regulation stories, Sanome’s AI tool has achieved Class IIb CE certification… This is big news for UK SaMDs, showing that magic CAN happen when regulation and technology innovate together. Pigeon is looking forward to seeing some cute, certified algorithm offspring. Legend has it, there are 50,000 more in algo-gestation.
🏥 NHS to get early access to MedTech ahead of regulatory approval - The MHRA has thumbs-upped an NHS fast-track route for adoption of the best and brightest medtech devices prior to full regulatory approval. BUT it’s time-limited and conditional on clear clinical need and evidence of benefit for patients. Getting tech into where it’s needed most while collecting data to see just how well it works? It worked for medicines with the launch of EAMS, so Pigeon is feeling preeeeeeetty positive.
💰 Wanda Health extends funding round to £1.9m - Bristol-based remote monitoring startup Wanda Health has secured a major funding boost — and they’re packing their bags for the US. Next stop is chasing a Series A at a shinier valuation.
🇨🇭 Switzerland's Genolier Innovation Hub aims to solve the 17‑year lab‑to‑bedside healthtech lag - In a country best known for precision watches, Roger Federer, and holey cheese, 87% of Swiss medical startups fail. The Genolier Innovation Hub is building a medical innovation ecosystem designed to plug the gaps, keeping the holes out of healthtech but firmly in the cheese.
📵 ChatGPT adds mental health guardrails after reports of bot feeding people’s delusions - I’m sure many of you, like Pigeon, have applauded ChatGPT for its advice on important life issues, such as the best way to stack the dishwasher, but a qualified mental health clinician it is not. With increasing numbers turning to the platform for mental health support, in some cases with catastrophic consequences, Open AI says it’s putting ‘guardrails’ in place to help tackle the problem - if you consider ‘gentle reminders encouraging people to take a break’ sufficient in a mental health crisis, then sure, it’s putting guardrails in place…
🧑⚖️ Flo Health settles class action over personal health data sharing — Flo Health is settling the case, with a minimum of $1,000 requested for each user. They have 38 million users — you do the math. The payout is something, but it doesn’t recover the data women shared about their sex drives, masturbation habits, and relationships. Hmmm… regulations? See story one.
🇻🇮 OpenAI announces massive US government partnership — The US government is adopting OpenAI, and Pigeon is scratching his beak over this one. OpenAI says ChatGPT won’t use interactions with federal employees as training data. We all know how valuable that data would be to AI companies. R..e…g….
What to Listen to 🔊
Events 📅
HealthTech Connect: Networking for health startups, investors, innovators
⏰ Aug 12
📍 London
Transforming primary care, examples of innovation, data and change
⏰ Aug 12
📍 Online
World Conference on pharma industry and medical devices
⏰ Aug 23-24
📍 London
BMJ Future Health conference - Early bird discount
⏰ Nov 6-7
📍 London
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 🕵️♀️
🧑⚕️Clinical Specialist – Behavioural Health, Microsoft AI - Are you passionate about using generative AI to transform mental and behavioural health? Join Microsoft Health AI as an early team member to shape product strategy, drive innovation, and bridge science, ethics, and impact.
🥼 Clinical Innovation Lead, eucalyptus - Do you have clinician expertise and a knack for analysis and innovation? This role provides an opportunity to shape the future of AI-driven diagnostics and preventive health, where your clinical expertise meets cutting-edge product strategy and impact.
💡Civic Healthtech Innovation Zone Innovation Manager, University of Liverpool - Interested in accelerating Liverpool’s HealthTech future? As Innovation Manager in the Civic HealthTech Innovation Zone, you’ll empower over 100 entrepreneurs and SMEs, drive AI and AR/VR projects in mental health, and shape bold collaborations for regional growth alongside Dr Annemarie Naylor.
👥 Commercial Lead, Sanome - If you know a thing or two about scaling SaMDs across global health systems, and this week’s podcast got you all up in your feels about regulations, then you should probably apply to this one.
Got news, jobs or events you think are 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.