💊 Health Futures #39

Happy Monday 👋

This week, Novo Nordisk’s obesity drug, Wegovy, is to be released in Korea this month which potentially increases the competition in the obesity drug market. Royal Philips, Siloam Hospitals Group, and Universitas Pelita Harapan signed a Memorandum of Understanding to advance AI capabilities and development in the healthcare sector in Indonesia. Meanwhile, ABL Bio Corp has entered into a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with MSD to evaluate ABL103 in combination with Keytruda, potentially using ABL103 as a treatment for various cancers in the biotechnology sector. In health finance, Maven Clinic secured $125M in Series F funding, for which the company intends to expand its partnerships in maternity care.

🎯 Targeted Chronic Disease Management

🎗️ Telix Pharmaceuticals secured the expansion of the approval of Health Canada for Illuccix.  Illuccix can now be used to identify progressive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients eligible for Pluvicto treatment.

💊 The NHS proposed a phased launch of Mounjaro/Zepbound for obesity treatment. The NHS plans to prioritize patients most likely to benefit from weight loss when providing access to Mounjaro/Zepbound.

🩺 Novo Nordisk's obesity drug, Wegovy, will be released in Korea. The launch of Wegovy is expected to increase competition in the domestic obesity drug market.

🌐 AI in Health

🤖 Royal Philips, Siloam Hospitals Group, and Universitas Pelita Harapan have signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The MOU aims to advance AI capabilities and development in the healthcare sector in Indonesia.  

🛒 Kipu Health partners with Amazon Web Services. The collaboration will focus on developing AI solutions that streamline clinical workflows and reduce the administrative burden on healthcare providers.

📹 Verbal launched its AI tools in the Zoom app marketplace. This integration allows telehealth providers to automatically capture and analyze call audio and use Verbal's AI-powered clinical documentation and real-time quality assurance tools.

🧬 Biotechnology

🔬 Mestag Therapeutics entered into a license and collaboration agreement with MSD. The agreement aims to identify novel targets for the development of therapies against inflammatory diseases.

🧪 MediLink Therapeutics entered into a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with Amgen. This collaboration aims to explore the potential of the two innovative drugs in the treatment of ES-SCLC and offer a novel and synergetic mechanism of action for clinical benefit.

🧫 ABL Bio Corp entered into a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with MSD. ABL Bio will conduct a phase Ib/II clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ABL103 in combination with Keytruda. 

💰 Deals of the Week

🏥 Maven Clinic secured $125M in Series F funding which the company intends to use the funds to enhance its partnerships in maternity care.

💵 The Transform Health Fund has raised $111M to bolster healthcare systems in Africa. The fund is supported by the Health Finance Coalition.

⚖️ Eleanor Health raised $30M in Series D funding. Eleanor Health aims to use the funds to continue scaling its whole-person care model for substance use disorder.

📋 MARAbio raised $19M in initial Series A funding, intending to use the funds to support the commercial launch of its autism test in the coming year and the development of therapeutic interventions.

👁️ InterVene raised $13M in Series A funding, which the funds secured will used to further enhance the final development of its Recana catheter system, initiation of clinical cases, regulatory submission, and market clearance in the US.

Thank you for reading. Have a great week ahead!
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