The Digital Health Newsletter by Paul Sonnier
June 16, 2017
Greetings!
The image below could be the first one shared publicly of J. Craig Venter's digital-to-biological Converter (DBC). The system reconstructs binary digital representations of DNA using the (four-base pair) digitally-coded chemical building blocks of life: adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine. As Venter explains it, the DBC is just like a printer in that it uses cassettes, but instead of colors, the cartridges hold bottles of chemicals.
The hope is that the DBC will one day be deployed in hospitals, clinics, businesses, and even homes so that if a viral outbreak hits, the specific vaccine can be rapidly developed and then sent digitally anywhere on the planet to stop pandemics in their tracks. For more, see the paper published in Nature Biotechnology: " Digital-to-biological converter for on-demand production of biologics"
FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, just went all in on digital health. In a blog post, Dr. Gottlieb states that the agency will introduce a major initiative focused on fostering new innovation across its medical product centers with a critical aspect being a "Digital Health Innovation Plan". The plan, he says, will include a "novel, post-market approach to how we intend to regulate these digital medical devices." The intent is for developers to apply the FDA regulatory scheme on their own versus having to seek out the agency's "position on every individual technological change or iterative software development."
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"Digital health is the convergence of the digital and genomic revolutions with health, healthcare, living, and society." - Paul Sonnier
The Story of Digital Health (Part 1)
FUNDING
UK-based Thriva has raised £1.5M to scale its blood test-based health tracking platform that helps people reach peak fitness levels. The company plans to expand its offerings to include analysis of the gut (microbiome), heavy metals, and hormone levels. According to CEO Hamish Grierson, “In 5 years time we’ll look back and think it’s ludicrous how little most people knew about what was really happening inside their bodies. We’re motivated by a simple view: That the world would be a better place if more people felt it was OK to know their bodies. Your blood can tell an amazing story about your health. Our mission is to ensure that understanding and tracking your biochemistry becomes as normal as counting your steps or jumping on the weighing scales.”
Leroy Hood and Clayton Lewis' Seattle-based startup Arivale has raised $13.6M to scale the company's personalized health platform. The company uses health history and other personal data including genetic information to help people manage and improve their health. Similar to Thriva, Arivale analyzes blood and gut (microbiome) data. According to the company's website, "The path to wellness isn't a secret. It's science." and its program "takes an intimate and unprecedented look at some of the critical areas of your body and life—your DNA, blood and saliva, and lifestyle—to create a more complete picture of you and your wellness potential. Your Arivale Coach then translates the language of your body—your data—into specific, actionable recommendations to help you achieve your personal goals."
Toronto-based  Figure 1, aka “Instagram for doctors”, has raised an additional $10M. The company's platform counts over 1 million healthcare professionals, who view medical conditions, discuss treatments, and teach one another. According to CEO Gregory Levey, "Anyone can join. In fact, we kid that it’s all journalists and VCs — people who are curious. But only medical professionals can post photos and make comments. Otherwise, you get a modified experience where you can see stuff but you can’t post or comment. If we verify you as a healthcare professional, you get access to different stuff, as well."
San Francisco-based behavioral counseling digital therapeutics platform provider  Omada Health has raised $50M. Health services company Cigna led the investment round and will also expand its partnership with the company. According to Omada CEO Sean Duffy, Cigna's investment is “further validation that Omada’s behavior change approach to chronic disease prevention is driving real results in the real world. We look forward to working with the Cigna leadership to deliver personalized, adaptable chronic disease prevention to their membership.”

San Francisco-based sleep tracking system maker Rythm raised $11M. The company is planning to launch its Dreem machine headband that, according to its website "is a pioneering sleep solution that monitors, analyzes, and acts on your brain to enhance your sleep." Moreover, it claims to have "taken years of sleep research and built highly effective audio programs that work in tandem with your mind and body to remove barriers that prevent you from falling asleep. As the Dreem headband can detect when you fall asleep, the sound gradually drown away so your sleep is never interrupted."

San Diego-based Scientist.com raised $24M to continue growing its business providing "an Amazon-like approach to the business of hiring contract research organizations (CROs)." According to CEO Kevin Lustig, the company provides a way “to solve the fundamental problem facing the pharmaceutical industry, which is trying to do more with less. What Scientist.com can do is really transform the pre-clinical process of getting a drug to market." Through its online system, he states that “you can get to clinical stage on a tenth of the money.”
Greenville-based ChartSpan Medical Technologies raised $16M to grow its patient care coordination services. According to the company's website, "ChartSpan is a free, secure app empowering patients with the ability to organize, request and send their entire family’s health records (immunizations, medical, dental, vision, prescriptions, over-the-counter medications, x-rays, lab results, etc.) from their smartphone."
HEALTHCARE
Given that millions of people lack health insurance or have insufficient coverage, it should come as no surprise that almost half of all money raised via crowdfunding websites is for covering medical expenses. On GoFundMe, medical campaigns accounted for about $930M of the $2B raised on the site. And the same ratio holds true for YouCaring, where medical campaigns accounted for nearly half of the $800 million raised on the site. According to  GoFundMe CEO Dan Saper, "Whether it's Obamacare or Trumpcare, the weight of healthcare costs on consumers will only increase."
Former director of the National Institute of Mental Health  Tom Insel recently left Google/Alphabet's Verily to join Mindstrong, a startup seeking to leverage smartphones and other tools in an effort to both diagnose and help treat people with mental health disorders. One of the first concepts the company plans to study is correlating keyboard use patterns with depression, psychosis, and mania. According to Insel, “Looking at speed, looking at latency or keystrokes, looking at error—all of those kinds of things could prove to be interesting.”
GENOMICS
For the first time ever, scientists have watched DNA being copied up-close. According to a statement by  UC Davis, “Almost all life on Earth is based on DNA being copied, or replicated, and understanding how this process works could lead to a wide range of discoveries in biology and medicine.”
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