🩹 Health Futures #28

Happy Monday 👋

Cyberattacks continue to impact the healthcare industry and its patients. A cyberattack in Australia exposed the sensitive information of ~13M Australians. Developments in AI for healthcare include Qure.ai obtaining regulatory approval for medical imaging solutions in Canada, a collaboration on AI-driven heart rhythm technology between Volta Health and GE Healthcare, and the NIH conducted a study on the risks and benefits of AI in medical decision-making. Targeted diabetes/obesity management continues to be a core focus in chronic care. Novo Nordisk secured UK approval for Wegovy, and the company plans to build a new facility to meet the demand for semaglutides. In recent funding, Third Arc Bio raised $165M in Series A funding and is planning to use the funds to advance its clinical studies. 

🛡️Health Cybersecurity

🏥 Massive data breach exposed personal information of 13M Australians. MediSecure, an Australian company, suffered a data breach that resulted in the theft of personal data belonging to 13M Australians. The Australian government is urging people to be vigilant against scams and is calling for privacy law reforms.

🔐 Michigan Medicine hit by a cyberattack exposing patient data. The health care system of the University of Michigan suffered a cyberattack where hackers accessed email accounts of three employees, potentially exposing information of nearly 57,000 patients.

⚖️ Pharmacists Association sued healthcare companies over cyberattacks. The National Community Pharmacists Association has filed a lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group, Optum, and Change Healthcare regarding a cyberattack on Change Healthcare.

🤖 AI in Health

🩺 Qure.ai received regulatory approval for AI medical imaging solutions in Canada. Qure.ai, a company specializing in AI-powered medical imaging solutions, was granted a Class III medical device license by Health Canada for its suite of AI-based imaging products.

🤝 Volta Medical partners with GE HealthCare on AI-driven EP Tech. Volta Medical, a medical technology company, entered into a joint development agreement with GE HealthCare, a leading provider of medical imaging and monitoring equipment, to collaborate on developing AI-driven electrophysiology (EP) technology.

🤖 NIH introduced AI's medical decision risks and benefits. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) evaluating the performance of an AI model successfully answered medical quiz questions but struggled to explain its reasoning and accurately describe images.

🩹 Targeted Chronic Management

🏣 Novo Nordisk expanded manufacturing capacity for popular weight-loss drugs. Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical company, plans to build a new facility in Denmark to meet the increasing demand for its weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic.

💊 Novo's Obesity drug Wegovy has been approved for heart treatment in the UK. Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug Wegovy secured UK approval for reducing the risk of heart disease and strokes, expanding its use beyond obesity treatment.

💔 Copay Insurance burdens delay cancer treatment for patients. A cancer patient advocate says copay health insurance may force lower middle-income patients to delay cancer treatment. A caregiver says insurance doesn't cover meds/procedures not considered part of cancer treatment.

💰 Deals of the Week

💉 Third Arc Bio, a US-based biotech company developing multifunctional antibodies, raised $165M in Series A funding to use the funds to advance its clinical studies.

🩸 Magenta Medical, an Israeli company that develops miniaturized blood pumps, raised $105M in funding led by Novo Holdings, a global healthcare investment firm, to use the funds to further develop its heart pump technology for heart conditions.

💰 GRO Biosciences, a US-based biotechnology company leveraging synthetic biology, raised $60.3M in Series B funding to use the funds to initiate clinical trials for its lead gout treatment, expand its research pipeline, and enhance its technology platform for protein production.

💊 Dechra Pharmaceuticals, a UK-based provider of a veterinary pharmaceuticals business, acquired Invetx Inc for $520M, a Boston, MA-base company which specializes in protein-based therapeutics for animal health.

🦷 Pearl, a Los Angeles, CA-based company that specializes in dental AI, raised $58M in funding. It intends to use the funds to advance innovation in technologies that enhance the health of dental patients.

Thank you for reading. Have a great week ahead!
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