COVID-19 wasn’t Google Chief Health Officer Dr. Karen DeSalvo’s first crisis. A seasoned public health leader, she worked on the health response in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.
During a keynote talk at CB Insights' Future of Health yesterday, she stressed that lessons learned during the hurricane can also be applied to the pandemic today.
“A lot of things that happened to us in 2005...
A one-sided arrangement. Earlier this week, budget-minded connected-exercise-maker Echelon Fitness announced the launch of is "Prime Bike," a $499 device that it described in its reveal as "Amazon's first-ever connected fitness product." Through a bring-your-own-tablet interface, the machine would enable owners to join live and on-demand fitness classes through Echelon's subscription service.
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AmWell and GoodRx seem to be ushering in a second wave of digital health IPOs. Why is this happening now? And who's next? With Healthbox President and HIMSS EVP Neil Patel as their guest, the MobiHealth team (host Jonah Comstock, Managing Editor Laura Lovett and Associate Editor Mallory Hackett) dive into these questions and more.
Plus, in the second half of the show, they discuss Amazon Halo,...
Artificial intelligence drug discovery company Recursion Pharmaceuticals has announced an oversubscribed Series D funding round totaling $239 million. Headlining the raise is a strategic partnership with Bayer, which came with a $50 million investment from the Leaps by Bayer. Casdin Capital, Catalio Capital Management, Laurion Capital Management, Samsara BioCapital and all of the major...
Apple and Google are refining their COVID-19 contact tracing framework to fast-track enrollment and, for Apple device owners, completely forego the need to download a separate app, representatives of the companies announced today.
Launched today on iPhones with the iOS 13.7 update, "Exposure Notifications Express" sends device owners in participating states a push notification with the option to...
Alphabet’s life science subsidiary Verily is jumping into the health insurance game with the launch of its new venture Coefficient Insurance Company.
The tech-enabled payer will be backed by Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, which specializes in data-driven risk assessments.
Coefficient, which is categorized as a Verily subsidiary, is targeted at self-funded employers and is pitched as stop-loss...
The first U.S. COVID-19 contact tracing app built on Apple and Google's Exposure Notifications system tools has launched in the state of Virginia.
The free COVIDWISE app for Android and iOS smartphones is supported by the Virginia Department of Health.
Much like others built on the API, the app passively uses Bluetooth to anonymously determine whether an individual has come into contact with...
It's been about nine months since Google officially announced plans to acquire Fitbit. The deal was expected to close in Q2 2020, but antitrust concerns from U.S. and E.U. regulators have so far stalled the purchase.
That delay will likely run a fair bit longer with the European Commission announcement that its preliminary probe of the purchase will now expand into a full-scale investigation...
Google has posted an update on Exposure Notifications – their system-level framework for COVID-19 contact tracing developed in tandem with Apple – revealing that the tools have been incorporated into digital contact-tracing apps launched in 16 countries.
Further, 20 U.S. states and territories are "exploring apps" based on the system, according to Google, the first set of which are expected to go...
Despite very public messaging that the Bluetooth contact-tracing tools for COVID-19 developed by Google and Apple would not track users' locations, its implementation within Android operating systems still collects GPS data that Google could use to determine the user's location, The New York Times reports.
The issue is driven by the operating system's device location setting, which must be...
