Wellcare, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Centene Corporation, announced that Special Supplemental Benefits for the Chronically Ill (SSBCI) would be available to eligible Medicare beneficiaries during the Annual Enrollment Period, which runs from now until December 7, 2021. “At Wellcare, we believe much of what impacts health happens outside of the doctor’s office, so we are proud to offer expanded supplemental benefits to address social determinants of health and help our members with chronic illnesses live better healthier lives”, said Rich Fisher, SVP and CEO of Medicare for Centene, Wellcare’s parent company.

Source: Prnews Wire

University of California, Davis Health announced this week that it had launched a new Cloud Innovation Center. Powered by Amazon Web Services and billed as the first of its kind, the CIC will work toward enabling idea exchange among clinicians, patients, developers, and students. It will also, said the health system, facilitate design and prototype tools aimed at furthering digital health equity. UC Davis Health and AWS will each commit staff to explore digital health equity issues through the CIC alongside clinicians, students, groups, and the community.

Source: Healthcare IT News

As the world grapples with the pandemic, there is an onslaught of innovations in the healthcare service space. Be it remote consultations through video meets, diagnostics using artificial intelligence or doorstep delivery of pharmacy, tech-driven disruptions are being led by not the healthcare behemoths but the frugal startups that are making it big in a post-pandemic world.

DistilInfo tries to capture some of these remarkable ones and look at what they have in store for the customers, the disruptions whether they are sustainable or not, and what they keep on table for the investors who have doled out bountiful – $20 Billion (B) so far this year for these healthtech startups.

DistilInfo FAST FIVE

1. Color Health Inc.
The latest development for California-headquartered Color Health Inc is the Series E fund raising of $100 Million (M) that puts its valuation at $4.6 B. Color provides the last mile of care across healthcare services. Started with Color Test (2015) – a clinical-grade affordable comprehensive genetic sequencing test to make important genetic information accessible to women and men, Color Health is now known for its pandemic response with its tech-based solutions for preventive health and infectious disease management solutions. Its nearly 1000 partners include public health departments, corporate and academic institutions/universities. This assures its wider base for revenues, while constant innovation provides a promising future. At the start of the pandemic, in March 2020, Color had announced the launch of COVID-19 testing laboratory in Burlingame, CA and in May 2020 it received an emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to use LAMP technology for COVID-19 testing. By bringing disruptions in the conventional healthcare and diagnostic technologies Color created a niche for itself and emerged as a flag-bearer in Covid response among the startups. No wonder company’s valuation has grown three-times within a year from $1.5 B in January at the time of its $167 M Series D fund-raising to currently $4.6 B. Color CEO Othman Laraki says, “What we have built will serve as a critical piece of public health infrastructure to deliver access to healthcare services to those who need them most.”

2. Vault Health Inc.
Among the first to bring FDA-authorized at-home PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests to market, Vault Health revolutionized the COVID-19 testing by making it convenient, authentic and secure. The pandemic, at its peak, had posed serious challenges of getting a COVID-19 test done with people in large numbers queuing up for testing. An at-home PCR, unheard of in pre-pandemic era, became a driver for the company, which has executed partnerships with government agencies, corporate, businesses, local public health agencies and academic institutions. The company claims to have delivered over 10 million COVID-19 tests to its customers, while it had secured about $10 million from a Series A fundraising round. The New York-headquartered company is exploring other uncharted territories by unlocking opportunities for itself and value for its stakeholders. As the economies return to normalcy post the massive COVID-19 vaccination drives, the next big challenge for the employers and schools is to ensure that all of their workers and participants are vaccinated. Vault, through its tech-platforms, is now helping businesses comply with the new federal mandate to test unvaccinated workers on a weekly basis. The COVID Compliance Solution is an offering that tracks employee vaccination status, tests those unvaccinated and tracks the results.

3. DNA Script Inc
Known for its in-house DNA Printing solutions, DNA Script has scripted a success story for itself by developing a DNA printing platform – SYNTAX Platform, enabled by Enzymatic DNA Synthesis (EDS) technology has excited many in the medical space and also in the investor arena. Founded in 2014, this life sciences technology player has developed an alternative to traditional DNA synthesis i.e. EDS. This allowed technology to be accessible to labs with the first benchtop enzymatic synthesis instrument, the SYNTAX System. It allows in-house DNA printing without use of toxic organic chemicals or extended delivery waiting period from the third party DNA Service providers. Last month the company raised $165 million in a Series C round led by Coatue Management and Catalio Capital Management to further fuel its expansion and commercialization of the revolutionary platform and offer newer products using EDS. Till now the company has raised in total $280 M and as its co-founder and CEO Thomas Ybert says, “the next industrial revolution will be driven by life science and biology,” the future looks promising for the company.

4. Nurx Inc:
Founded by Hans Gangeskar and Dr. Edvard Engesæth Nurx Inc has physicians, business leaders, and industry experts in its team besides having Chelsea Clinton, Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation, Dr. Regina Benjamin, Former Surgeon General of the United States among others as its Board members. This shows the prominence the company enjoys for its deployment of innovative technologies for telehealth and at-home tests for birth-control, Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) and the recently added to its portfolio, COVID-19 tests. Founded in 2015, and the company is already making its presence felt in the at-home test providers. In the latest, the company raised $22.5 million in Series C round of fund raising in August. What has attracted the investors to the company is the changing dynamics of diagnostic space in the COVID-19 times and the use of digital technology for consultations providing a fillip to the company’s growth amidst a pandemic. Telemedicine persisted even before the pandemic but this global health crisis has just highlighted the importance of telemedicine. Considering COVID a one-off advantage, the company builds its strength in the other services in the areas of skin care, herpes treatment and the most widely prevalent migraine management.

5. GRAIL
Before the deadly COVID-19 pandemic struck the world, the C word of Cancer was considered among the most dreaded of the diseases. GRAIL Inc is one of a few pharmaceutical and biotechnology players that emerged as an answer to Cancer with its early detection and solutions. Considered as a boon for the Cancer patients, GRAIL innovated a multi-cancer early detection blood test. Company claims that it can detect over 50 types of cancer, and over 45 of which lack recommended screening tests today. This is one healthcare startup that was backed by the global leader in DNA Sequencing, Illumina Inc. Later in 2016 it was spun off as a separate entity with Illumina still holding about 12%. But in August this year Illumina announced acquisition of GRAIL for a $3.5 B deal. As a future roadmap, GRAIL is in the process of developing tools that can further accelerate diagnosis of cancer, blood-based detection for minimal residual disease, and other post-diagnostic applications.

Summary:
The disruptions in the conventional healthcare delivery structures are now led by the startups. Thanks to the digital revolution, these startups fuel the innovation on the delivery front as well as on the process side. The Pandemic has given a new lease of life to the innovation and research space as more funds are flowing now for the innovations and technological disruptions. The Rockhealth data shows that the total number of deals for digital health investments during the three quarters of the current year has far exceeded the number for the entire past one year. From 464 deals for the whole of 2020 to 541 in the first three quarters of 2021. Also, what indicates the growing traction of the investors is the increase in the average deal size, from $31.5 M in 2021 to $39.4 M so far this year. But the key to the success for these startups, which are prone to high mortality, would be the differentiated offering, cost economics and the consumer-centric approach in their products and solutions.

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