Author: MobiHealthNews

Israel-based AION Labs, an AI-enabled drug discovery partnership between global pharma and tech companies, announced the launch of a new startup company CombineAble.AI, which will speed up the development of therapeutics by addressing challenges associated with antibody design.  CombinAble.AI was formed following an AION Labs startup challenge aimed at developing an AI-based solution for therapeutic antibodies. The company will develop a platform that integrates AI with computational methods for biomolecule simulations aimed at developing new biotherapeutics.   The process involves leveraging data provided by AION Labs’ pharma partners in addition to publicly available data.  “Our emphasis is on combining various advanced…

AI-driven dermatology platform Cureskin has netted $20 million in a Series B funding round led by HealthQuad. The round was also participated by JSW Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and Sharrp Ventures. “These funds will help further enhance our AI capabilities, accelerate our growth, and expand solution offerings,” said co-founder and CEO Guna Kakulapati in a statement. Cureskin previously raised $5 million in Series A funding. To date, it claims to have treated about 1.5 million customers for various skin conditions through its app. It notes that over 80% of them are from tier 2 and 3 cities.  Diabetes-focused health tech startup…

Global Fund taps VinBrain for Vietnam’s National TB Screening Bill Gates’ The Global Fund has chosen health tech company VinBrain to support the National Tuberculosis Prevention Campaign in Vietnam by supplying its AI technology. Under a commercial agreement, VinBrain will transfer 32 AI-related licenses of its technology to the government-initiated programme, assisting in the screening of about a million suspected TB cases starting in April and ultimately contributing to the elimination of TB in the country by 2035. Based on a press release, VinBrain’s DrAid for TB Screening can help cut diagnosis time, potentially bringing down the screening costs from $50-$60…

ORLANDO – Pawan Kohli, strategic advisor at Redesign Health, spoke at HIMSS24 Venture Connect on experiencing failure and the lessons startups can learn to ensure they thrive in an ever changing digital health market.  Global digital health funding was cut substantially in 2023 compared with 2022, while deals dropped to the lowest level since 2016. Additionally, there were just three mega-rounds (deals worth $100 million or more) in Q4 of 2023, also the lowest since 2016.  Examples of companies that ended operations in 2023 include Olive and Pear Therapeutics.  During his talk “Failure Can Be Painful but Full of Promise: Learning from Our Mistakes,” Kohli…

Foundation Health, a San Francisco-based healthcare technology company, announced the closure of a $6 million seed funding round.  The investment seeks to slingshot the company into a period of growth backed by investors such as Garry Tan, CEO of Y Combinator, Transpose Platform, Tuesday VC, Alt Capital, Box Group, Liquid Ventures, Exceptional Capital, Calm/Storm Ventures and PageOne Ventures.  Angel investors Paul Johnson of Lemonaid and Meghan Fitzgerald of Grey Ghost Advisors also participated in the round.  WHAT IT DOES Foundation Health focuses on redefining consumer healthcare experiences by empowering clients to develop and launch digital-first pharmacy and telemedicine solutions at…

ORLANDO – AI-enabled virtual care assistants are reshaping patient care and augmenting healthcare professionals’ capabilities, but providers need to know how to build trust as the technologies evolve, experts said during the HIMSS24 preconference Virtual Care Forum on Monday.  Matt Cybulsky, founder and consultant at Ionian Healthcare Consulting, led the discussion on building trust in virtual agents and chatbots. Andy Chu, senior vice president of product and technology incubation at Providence Health, and Kathleen Mazza, clinical informatics consultant at Northwell Health, joined the panel.  Mazza said Northwell has been using chatbots since 2018, a move she called “fortuitous” as it allowed…

ORLANDO – Juan Santos, SVP of brand experience and innovation at the Tavistock Group and innovator in Orlando’s planned community Lake Nona, kicked off the Venture Connect Program at HIMSS24. “If you read about Lake Nona, it has been called Medical City by the media,” Santos said. “The reason for this is that at the core of Lake Nona, at the base of who we are, we have a very solid healthcare ecosystem.”  Lake Nona is home to the University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Orlando VA Medical Center and Nemours Children’s Hospital.  The community has 24,000 residents, and citizens can…

ORLANDO–During a fireside chat style discussion at HIMSS24 on Wednesday, “Achieving Equity through Coordinated Healthcare,” experts discussed how exchanging health information can bridge gaps in health equity and the innovations transforming healthcare access.  Michael Jackson, VP and global head of industries at DocuSign moderated a discussion with Luis Belen, CEO of the National Health IT Collaborative for the Underserved (NHIT), and Stanley Campbell, CEO of EagleForce Associates, focused on honing in on social determinants of health as a way to improve community access and healthcare for underserved communities.  NHIT looks to achieve this by working with state health information exchanges…

The health technology segment in India, which comprises about 10,000 startups, is projected to triple in value by 2028 as investors shift their focus towards businesses that can withstand economic disruptions. A new report by global management consultant Bain & Company, in collaboration with Indian healthcare-focused venture fund HealthQuad, delved into the local healthcare innovation market, which key segments include pharma services (CDMO, CRO, pharma IT), health tech, biotechnology, and medtech.  Last year, health tech accounted for a quarter, or about $7 billion, of India’s $30 billion healthcare innovation market. By 2028, projections point to the market doubling in value…

Wheel, a virtual care staffing and services vendor, announced it has partnered with Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, mental health platform Talkspace and diagnostic services company Health Gorilla.  Thanks to the collaborations, Wheel will deliver mental health services, affordable home delivery prescription drug pricing offerings, and lab and diagnostics through its integrated virtual care ecosystem.  All three companies will be available to Wheel customers on the platform this year.  “The addition of Talkspace, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company and Health Gorilla to the Wheel ecosystem is not just about expanding our capabilities; it’s about fortifying our commitment to…