Venture Capital For Digital Health Is Down; Plus, The New Omicron Variant

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Digital well being enterprise funding hit $6 billion throughout 183 offers within the first quarter of 2022 with a median deal dimension of $32.8 million, in line with the latest report from Rock Well being. That is decrease than the $6.7 billion recorded within the first quarter of final yr and a big step down from the $7.3 billion in enterprise funding within the fourth quarter of 2021. The report notes that there might be one thing seasonal at play – in previous years, the primary quarter tends to be a low, if not the bottom, funding quarter. However the greater image query is whether or not that is an early indication of a “digital well being enterprise funding correction” and whether or not now we have seen the top of sky-high valuations that appear absurdly far faraway from income and buyer numbers.

And on the subject of the general public markets, the SPAC growth of 2021 appears to be going bust in 2022, as digital well being firms that went public through clean test firms have dragged down the averages on the subject of inventory worth efficiency of the cohort. From July 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, the Rock Well being Digital Well being Index, a basket of publicly traded digital well being firms, was down 38% total versus damaging 5% for the S&P 500. The common digital well being SPAC share worth fell 57% in the identical interval. “The rise-and-fall of COVID variants, power shocks, and inflation numbers sign murky waters for digital well being buyers, and Q1’s considerably restrained (dare we are saying rational?) funding numbers could mirror investor warning,” in line with the report.

The African Union Endorses Plan To Strengthen Healthcare Workforce In Wake Of Covid Pandemic

KALYESUBULA/SEED GLOBAL HEALTH

World public well being consultants Agnes Binagwaho, Githinji Gitahi, John Nkengasong and Vanessa Kerry focus on a brand new plan to put money into the healthcare workforce in Africa, the place 36 out of 57 international locations face dire shortages. Learn extra right here.

Offers Of The Week

PathAI Partnership: GlaxoSmithKline has introduced it’s signed a multi-year partnership with Boston-based PathAI. The deal is aimed toward accelerating analysis and growth packages for oncology and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

Worth-Primarily based Cloud: San Francisco-based Make clear Well being closed a $150 million series D round led by the SoftBank Imaginative and prescient Fund 2. The fundraising is aimed toward scaling the corporate’s value-based funds platform and cloud analytics capabilities.

Telehealth for Menopause: San Francisco-based Evernow, which has developed a telehealth platformed geared in the direction of ladies in perimenopause and menopause, introduced that it’s raised a $28.5 million series A round led by enterprise agency NEA.

AI For Listening: Eleos Well being introduced that it raised a $20 million series A round co-led by Eight Street Ventures and F-Prime. The corporate is growing software program that may pay attention to periods between sufferers and their psychological well being supplier, autonomously offering information to fill out EHRs and helping in serving to suppliers discover insights in treating sufferers.

Noteworthy

This week, Walmart started opening the primary of 5 new doctor-staffed “Walmart Well being” facilities within the profitable Florida market because the retail large appears to increase low-cost healthcare providers to tens of hundreds of its prospects.

A brand new report within the United Kingdom discovered that over 200 infants have died in avoidable ways over the previous 20 years at a western England hospital belief, which uncovered quite a few different issues of safety as nicely.

Walgreens is opening a brand new VillageMD clinic hooked up to a drugstore on common “each three days” this yr, the pharmacy chain’s CEO says.

Coronavirus Updates

Dating life has by no means been straightforward, however 63% of People at the moment searching for romantic attachments say that life throughout Covid has solely made issues harder, in line with a ballot by Pew Analysis. About one-third of respondents mentioned it made issues principally the identical. However one factor has modified–over 40% of respondents say they might not date somebody who isn’t vaccinated for Covid. 56% don’t care about vaccination standing, however for individuals who’ve chosen to not get vaccinated, that’s another reason for potential companions to swipe left. (Apart from that 2% of People who will solely date somebody who isn’t vaccinated.) In life outdoors of courting, polls are discovering that People are nonetheless cautious of Covid-19. A brand new Kaiser Household Basis ballot discovered {that a} majority of People nonetheless aren’t getting again to their regular, pre-pandemic lives. The same quantity say they don’t need well being measures like masking to go away solely, and 80% report they’ve nonetheless worn a masks in a public place previously month.

Right here’s What We Know About Omicron XE — The New Covid Variant Discovered In The U.Okay.

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A brand new Covid-19 variant that mixes two completely different omicron strains has been recognized in the UK, and it might be the fastest-spreading Covid variant but, in line with early information from British public well being officers and the World Well being Group, although consultants warn it’s too quickly to find out if or how a lot of a menace the variant may be. Learn extra right here.

Different Coronavirus Information

Fluvoxamine, an inexpensive and extensively accessible tablet used around the globe to deal with psychological sickness, could be very prone to cut back the chance of being hospitalized with Covid-19, in line with new peer-reviewed analysis.

No less than two Broadway exhibits have canceled performances this week resulting from Covid-19 instances throughout the solid—and others are enjoying with understudies in main roles—with transmission starting to rise once more in New York Metropolis.

President Joe Biden introduced the nationwide moratorium on federal pupil mortgage repayments, which was one of many first Covid reduction efforts, will probably be prolonged once more, from Could 1 to August 31.

Shanghai reported greater than 13,000 new Covid-19 instances on Tuesday as the town’s outbreak surges regardless of an ongoing lockdown, prompting authorities within the Chinese language monetary hub to indefinitely lengthen curbs that have been scheduled to finish this week.