Rock Weekly – NEW

Digital therapeutics are poised to tackle chronic and acute conditions—including those that often fly under the radar. 70M Americans have a gut disorder—twice the number of those living with diabetes—and the current standard of care is costly and largely ineffective. We’re thrilled to announce our investment in Vivante Health, whose comprehensive solution is changing the digestive health care paradigm. Welcome, Vivante!

There’s a whole lot of health data out there just waiting to be used in research—whether passively collected or intentionally shared (we loved this take on the PatientsLikeMe acquisition). While most patients are altruistic with their data for research, they've become less trustful of healthcare institutions' ability to protect it. At the eighth Rock Health Summit, we’ll sit down with leaders including former FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf and the AMA’s Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld to discuss the implications of the healthcare techlash.

Driven by seven $100M+ mega deals and a record number of repeat investors, digital health funding in the first half of 2019 continued at a steady clip (and Rock Health portfolio companies raised $400M, nearly 10% of all funding). The exit market is heating up—last week, Phreesia, Health Catalyst, and Livongo filed for IPOs, and a handful of companies could soon follow suit. In our 2019 midyear update, we looked at the acquisition strategies of big, non-healthcare players and calculated digital health's "net liquidity overhang"—the amount of capital still awaiting return to investors.

Not to be outdone by Amazon (whose threat to established players was made evident in a recent lawsuit), Google is pushing its health strategy forward on a number of fronts. The tech giant inked a deal with Sanofi to develop personalized treatments while its life sciences arm, Verily, is preparing to open its data-driven opioid addiction center. And in the battle of voice assistants, a new study puts Google in the lead when it comes to understanding medication names—but warns we shouldn’t rely on voice tech just yet.

Our two newest Rock Health Summit speakers, FDA's Dr. Amy Abernethy and Andreessen Horowitz's Vijay Pande, will dive into the future of digital drug discovery on 9/24-25. Snag your ticket ASAP.

Industry behemoths are honing healthcare's focus on the consumer experience. CVS announced the opening of more HealthHUB stores as it seeks to become “the most consumer-centric healthcare company.” Others are looking to the home—Comcast and Independence Blue Cross’ joint venture wants to include TVs in your care journey, while Best Buy acquired another remote monitoring service to bolster its emerging home health business. But can a consumer focus go too far? Some startups leapfrogging the healthcare system in favor of a direct user experience continue to raise questions.

The march toward interoperability in healthcare continues—leaders discussed what ONC’s proposed rules mean for innovators (the comment period closes today), and Blue Shield of California CEO Paul Markovich singled out interoperability as big tech’s biggest hurdle to scaling in the healthcare industry.

Big names making moves in healthcare want to keep you healthy—at home. Apple, on its quest for new health features, scooped up pediatric asthma monitoring co Tueo Health. Comcast, hoping to prevent readmissions, aims to pilot its in-home monitoring device by year end.

It's been a busy month for digital health over at the FDA. In addition to a warning for patients hacking insulin pumps, the agency issued a handful of clearances—from AliveCor’s six-lead smartphone ECG to two AI tools to make radiologists' jobs easier.

Consumer genomics startups are finding that it’s tough to build a large-scale consumer business on top of gene sequencers. One explanation? The information just isn’t that useful for most people. In response, companies are shifting their focus to partner with providers who can turn DNA test results into action. (One researcher’s journey makes the case for such an approach—and raises concerns of overtreatment.)