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DeepMind veteran raises $40 million for AI protein design
Simon Kohl, a former DeepMind engineer who worked on the company’s landmark AlphaFold research, raised $40 million for his new AI protein design company, Latent Labs. Kohl told STAT’s Brittany Trang that unlike others in the field, including DeepMind spinout Isomorphic Labs, the company isn’t “chasing bio bucks” by chaining itself to the pipelines of major drugmakers — or pursuing clinical assets of its own. Instead, Latent Labs hopes to focus on more fundamental research and sell access to its models for proteins, RNA, and DNA design. The company also eventually hopes to get into small molecule design. Read more here
Apple launches expansive new Health Study
As Apple looks to keep charging into health, the company this week launched a fresh new research study — called simply Apple Health Study — that will investigate relationships between different aspects of health. The project is a collaboration with researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and will enroll volunteers through Apple’s Research app, who will share as much or as little of their health data as they like.
Among the goals of the study are to better understand how its devices, like the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods, can be used to promote health and wellness as well as to monitor, detect, and manage disease. The company is explicit that insights might inform future product development. Apple features like walking steadiness notifications and hearing health features were informed by past Apple studies.
What exactly are they looking into? The study is so broad it’s hard to say for sure, but the company provided examples of potential relationships the study could explore, like mental health’s impact on heart rate, how sleep can influence exercise, or how detecting changes in hearing health might reduce risk for cognitive decline. Read more here
Paris summit draws European ‘AI Champions’ including health care bigwigs
Brittany Trang writes: Earlier this week, France hosted a global AI summit attended by J.D. Vance, who gave his first public speech as vice president. “I’m not here this morning to talk about AI safety, which was the title of the conference a couple of years ago. I’m here to talk about AI opportunity,” Vance said in his address, which cited health care as one of the industries AI will revolutionize. “We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry just as it’s taking off, and we’ll make every effort to encourage pro-growth AI policies,” he said.
European companies also made a play to advance the continent’s AI efforts with the General Catalyst-led EU AI Champions Initiative. Pharma and medical device companies like Novo Nordisk, Philips, Siemens, and AI biotechs Cradle and Owkin joined a total of 60 companies in the initiative meant to coordinate efforts “across technology, industry, and policy to accelerate AI adoption, modernize infrastructure, and foster a competitive technology ecosystem.”
How Medicaid reimbursement for telehealth impacts care
Katie Palmer writes: A study out in JAMA Network Open this week demonstrates the ways that telehealth reimbursement policies can impact access to care for patients who need it most. In a survey of six federally qualified health centers in New York City, staff interviews suggested that post-Covid Medicaid reimbursement policies in the state — which pay about a third less for telehealth visits when the provider isn’t in an office — contributed to the facilities’ workforce shortage.
It’s especially hard to get therapists and psychiatrists to come into the office for virtual visits, said participants, when they can be paid more to work from home by non-FQHCs. “When a lot of the rules are made, or when a lot of the emergency fundings for [telehealth] programs come out, they’re all geared through the hospital,” said one interview subject. “The decision makers at the top who pull the purse strings…are leaning towards hospitals.”
Caraway’s actual fate and a big radiology AI raise
- Last week I cited a report that virtual clinic targeted at “Gen Z” called Caraway Health had shutdown. That very same day, text-based pediatric urgent care company Summer Health announced it had acquired Caraway, to “deepen our care model to better serve children, teens, and young adults.” So there’s what really happened.
- Harrison.ai, a company focussed on AI for medical imaging, announced a $112 million series C round co-led by Aware Super, ECP and Horizons Ventures.
What we’re reading
- The rise of agentic AI teammates in medicine, The Lancet
- Medicare removes sexual orientation, gender identity questions from enrollment forms, STAT
- Walgreens ordered to pay $987 million in COVID-19 test contract case, Reuters
- Trump policies spark fears of brain drain, threatening to undermine U.S. dominance in biomedicine, STAT