TOP STORIES
So far, investors have poured more than $2.8 billion into 226 digital health deals in the first half of 2015, according to a half year assessment by StartUp Health. Among the top deals were Zenefits, a consumer wellness company that raised $500 million. The list doesn’t include NantHealth’s deal this week with Allscripts, which invested $200 million in the business. — StartUp Health
Teva and Philips have formed a joint venture to invest in medtech startups. They will invest a little more than $26 million in startups over the next eight years through Sanara Ventures. Sanara CEO Assaf Barnea said two of the companies it has invested in include Kaleidoscope Medical, which developed a way of protecting patients with X-ray radiation shielding during catheterization procedures. MGD is developing a portable device to measure lung function in patients with COPD. It invested in two more companies but did not disclose details. — Reuters
LIFE SCIENCE
Healthcare and life sciences companies raised more than $8B from VC firms in 2014. — CB Insights
The FDA has prioritized autism, psoriasis as part of its Patient-Focused Drug Development program. — Regulatory Affairs Professional Society
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
What’s the solution to space inducing bone loss? MIT engineers construct an exercise machine for astronauts also created artificial gravity. — MIT News
PAYERS-PROVIDERS
New government data showing payers earning less than expected could impact ongoing consolidation talks in the payer sector. — The Wall Street Journal
Want to boost survival rates for cardiac arrest? Mandatory CPR training in high school, a federally funded report proposes. A Lenox Hill emergency physician seconds that. — Medicine.Net
A plan administrator dares to go deep on colonoscopy. Now that we know the anesthesia is totally covered by insurance companies how about those test kits? Notsomuch. — Kaiser Health News
TECH
Under Armour acquired StartUp Health accelerator business Gritness a search tool that helps users find and join workouts. — MobiHealthNews
When robotics, artificial intelligence and ethics collide. So much angst, so many panels, but little mainstream adoption yet. — Nature
Rock Health CEO Halle Tecco notes that XX in Health will be folded into Disruptive Women in Health Care to continue to support women in the healthcare industry. — Disruptive Women in Healthcare LinkedIn Group
Curaspan makes an argument for improving care transitions. — Curaspan
POLITICS
Now that Jeb Bush’s 33-year tax record is available for all to see, it turns out he quite likes healthcare stocks. In October 2013, Bush sold $903,216 worth of shares in Tenet and listed a profit of $462,013. Bush’s investments also include Coventry, Amgen and Abbott Labs. — Politico
A LITTLE BIT EXTRA
Baltimore police say they have arrested the man they say was responsible for setting CVS on fire during the Baltimore riots following the death of Freddie Gray in police custody. The burning CVS became a symbol of the riots. — The Baltimore Sun
Photo: Flickr user Sam Valadi
