InnovationRx: Declining VC Investment In Digital Health; Plus: Long Covid’s Impact

InnovationRx is your weekly digest of healthcare news. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here.

This week, CB Insights released its report on the state of venture capital for the third quarter of 2022. At this point, it probably won’t shock you learn that once again, the amount of money invested in startups has gone down. This has continued to be the trend for digital healthcare startups, which saw a 31% decline to $5 billion invested, a number that hasn’t been that low since the third quarter of 2019. The U.S. saw the biggest influx of capital, with $2.9 billion being spread across 231 deals, while Asia took second place with $1.3 billion invested across 94 deals. So far for 2022, the average size deal has declined to $16 million, down from 2021’s $25 million. Only three startups became “unicorns” with valuations over $1 billion in the third quarter, down from 10 new unicorns being minted in the second quarter. General Catalyst had money invested in the most deals in the third quarter, having invested in seven new rounds. It was followed by Lightspeed Venture partners, which backed five deals, and Transformation Capital and ARCH Venture Partners, each involved in 4 digital health deals.

Stopping The Uganda Ebola Outbreak Now Should Be A Global Priority

Uganda is facing yet another Ebola outbreak, this time with a strain of the virus for which there’s no vaccine. Whatever aid the country requires to get the current outbreak under control will no doubt be well worth the investment.

Read more here.

Deals Of The Week

Care Coordination: Walgreens is planning on completely acquiring post-acute and home care company CareCentrix for $392 million.

Cancer Vaccine: Merck announced that it’s exercising its option to jointly develop and commercialize a vaccine for high-risk melanoma with mRNA biotech company Moderna. The vaccine would be used in conjunction with Merck’s cancer treatment Keytruda.

LGBTQIA+ Digital Health: Digital company Folx Health, which provides specialized care for the LGBTQUIA+ community including estrogen, testosterone and other hormone prescriptions, announced a $30 million series B led by 7wire Ventures.

Multi-Omics: San Diego-based Pleno raised a $40 million series A to accelerate development of its diagnostics platform.

Small Molecule Collab: Calico Life Sciences and Terray Therapeutics have announced a research collaboration aimed at discovering and developing small molecule therapies for aging-related diseases, including certain cancers.

Precision Oncology: Tavros Therapeutics has announced an agreement with Vividion Therapeutics geared towards the development of precision oncology and immune disorder drugs. The deal is potentially worth up to $930 million.

Noteworthy

Walmart is launching a healthcare research arm as the retailer adds more medical care services and works to address health equity and access for medically underserved populations.

Despite moves towards greater price transparency, a new survey reveals that nearly two-thirds of Americans have never tried to find the price of a healthcare service.

Serious blood shortages have triggered England’s first ever “amber alert”, as officials warn supplies are likely to drop below two day’s worth for some products.

Bright Health Group is pulling individual Obamacare and family health insurance plans from nine states, which will force hundreds of thousands of Americans to choose new healthcare coverage for next year.

Despite what some headlines stated, a recent randomized, controlled study of colonoscopies show they’re an essential tool in decreasing deaths from colorectal cancer.

Coronavirus Updates

A study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association found that women and hospitalized patients are more susceptible to developing long Covid. Long Covid symptoms are placed in three categories: persistent respiratory symptoms, persistent fatigue with bodily pain, or mood swings and cognitive problems. About 6% of people who develop symptomatic Covid infections experience ongoing symptoms months after the initial infection.

The study found that ICU patients are at an even greater risk for developing long Covid, with 43% of ICU patients experiencing one of the three symptom categories and 28% of all hospitalized Covid patients patients experiencing persistent symptoms . The study also found that 63% of long Covid cases were found in women. Researchers estimate that 15% of patients with long Covid experience symptoms 12 months after infection. But it’s still unclear why some people’s symptoms persist longer than others.

Covid Accelerated Healthcare’s Digital Transformation—Here’s What’s Next

Dr. William Winkenwerder, a former healthcare CEO who also previously served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, explains how the Covid pandemic accelerated digital transformations in healthcare and what happens next.

Read more here.

Other Coronavirus News

The FDA authorized omicron specific booster shots for children from Moderna and Pfizer and BioNTech. Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine is for kids aged five to 11 years old, while Moderna’s is for those aged six years and older.

The CDC recommends waiting at least three months from the time you noticed Covid symptoms or got a positive test before getting a vaccine or booster.

It’s been about two months since Novavax filed an emergency use authorization application to the FDA for Nuvaxovid – its protein-based Covid booster – and many are wondering why it still hasn’t been authorized. For comparison, the FDA authorized Pfizer and Moderna’s bivalent boosters within nine days.

The new BA.4.6 omicron subvariant “Aeterna” has been spreading throughout the U.S. (making up 13.6% of cases last week) and Europe, and research shows that the antibody treatment Evusheld, which is used as a preventative treatment for people with compromised immune systems, may not be as effective against it.

A new study found that after a Covid infection, more people found it difficult to exercise than they did before–an effect that appears to be more than just the normal deconditioning that happens after illness.

Across Forbes

The Secretive World Of MEV, Where Bots Front-Run Crypto Investors For Big Profits

This Boston Billionaire Is Giving Away $1 Million A Week

Could Dungeons & Dragons Be The Next Harry Potter? Stranger Things Have Happened

What Else We are Reading

Maternity care ‘deserts’ on the rise across the U.S., report finds (Stat)

COVID jabs for kids: they’re safe and they work — so why is uptake so patchy? (Nature)

Hospitals Have Been Slow to Bring On Addiction Specialists (Kaiser Health Network)