Healthcare AI Guy Weekly | 11/19

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Our Picks ✨

Highlights if you’ve only got 2 minutes…

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Forward Health shuts down

Forward, an AI-powered primary care startup is shutting down after raising over $650M in funding since it launched in 2017. Known for its subscription-based CarePods and tech-driven approach, Forward sought to reinvent healthcare by offering services like biometric scans and DNA testing for $99/month without accepting insurance. Despite becoming a unicorn in 2021 and planning to launch 3,200 CarePods in 2023, only five were deployed, hindered by logistical and usability issues. Forward's closure highlights the challenges of disrupting healthcare with tech-heavy models and out-of-pocket payments, particularly for younger, healthier demographics who struggled to see the value in routine preventive care. Still, we appreciate the bold mission to revolutionize care. (link)(tweet)

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AI robot masters surgical tasks

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University achieved a breakthrough in surgical robotics by training a robot to perform complex medical tasks solely by having it watch videos of human surgeons at work. Using hundreds of videos from da Vinci Surgical System wrist cameras, the robot mastered needle manipulation, tissue lifting, and suturing with human-level precision. This novel approach, combining ChatGPT-like AI architecture with kinematics, allows robots to "speak surgery" by translating visual data into precise movements. The system even adapted to unexpected scenarios, like retrieving dropped needles. This video learning approach could do for surgical robotics what LLMs did for AI, allowing robots to rapidly learn and adapt to any procedure instead of hand-coding for each individual movement. (link)

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The new era of AI-powered R&D

This new MIT study created a lot of buzz on the internet and examines the impact of AI on innovation, focusing on its introduction in the R&D lab of a large US firm. AI-assisted researchers discovered 44% more materials, leading to a 39% rise in patent filings and 17% growth in downstream product innovation. However, the benefits were unevenly distributed—top researchers doubled output while lower-performing scientists saw minimal gains. AI automated 57% of idea-generation tasks, shifting researchers to evaluate AI-generated materials. While AI-enhanced discovery, 82% of scientists reported reduced satisfaction, citing decreased creativity and underutilized skills. The study highlights AI's potential but underscores the need to balance innovation with job satisfaction. (link)

Tools & Partnerships 🔧

Latest on business, consumer, and clinical healthcare AI tools and partnerships…

TOOLS

• AI detects blood pressure and diabetes from short videos: Japanese researchers just developed an AI system that can screen for conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes using a brief video of someone's face and hands—with accuracy at levels comparable to or exceeding those of cuffs and wearable devices. (link)

• Arc Institute releases ‘ChatGPT for DNA’: Scientists at the Arc Research Institute just introduced Evo, an AI model trained on 2.7M microbial genomes that can both interpret and generate genetic sequences with unprecedented accuracy. Evo’s ability to predict, generate, and engineer entire genomic sequences could change the way synthetic biology is done. (link)

• Nvidia robots coming to hospitals: Nvidia is planning to land robots in hospitals to help with everything from linen deliveries to X-rays. It’ll supposedly take “a couple of years” for physical AI systems to be embraced in healthcare by getting three computers working in tandem: one to train the AI, another “digital twin” to simulate the physical world, and a third to operate the robot. Nvidia is already partnering with digital twin provider Mark III to simulate hospital environments for AI development. (link)

• AI research agents design new COVID-fighting proteins: Stanford researchers just introduced the Virtual Lab, an AI research platform where specialized AI agents collaborate with human scientists to tackle complex scientific challenges — successfully designing and validating new nanobodies against recent COVID variants. (link)

• AI tool ‘sees’ cancer gene signatures in biopsy images: Stanford researchers unveiled SEQUOIA, an AI system that can predict gene expression patterns in cancer cells by analyzing standard biopsy images, potentially eliminating the need for expensive testing. (link)

• Babylon founder Ali Parsa launched a new startup Quadrivia: a LinkedIn post from Parsa laid out Quadrivia’s vision of using customizable AI agents to tackle “the main challenge” in healthcare: the structural imbalance between the elastic demand from our communities and the constrained supply of our clinicians. (link)

• Innovaccer’s new Healthcare Experience AI: Innovaccer launched Healthcare Experience AI, new generative AI capabilities designed to enable proactive care experiences. The AI suite includes propensity scoring to identify high-value audiences for targeted care needs, subject line generation and send time optimization, and an Access Center CoPilot that suggests next-best actions to support first-call resolution. (link)

PARTNERSHIPS

• Formation Bio + OpenAI + Sanofi: Formation Bio, OpenAI & Sanofi unveiled Muse, an AI system that drastically accelerates clinical trial recruitment, with Sanofi already implementing it in Phase 3 trials to streamline drug development timelines. (link)

• Rodgers Behavioral Health + Limbic: Rogers Behavioral Health, a national nonprofit provider of mental health and addiction services, is incorporating AI-based virtual assistant Limbic to navigate more patients to care. (link)

• Sentara Health + Andor Health: Norfolk, Va.-based Sentara Health has launched a new virtual nursing program powered by Andor Health's AI-driven ThinkAndor platform. (link)

Deal Desk 💸 

Spotlight on latest capital raises, M&A, and investments…

FUNDING

• Writer, a San Francisco-based full-stack generative AI platform for enterprises, raised $200M in Series C funding. Premji Invest, Radical Ventures, and existing investor ICONIQ Growth led the round and were joined by Salesforce Ventures, Adobe Ventures, B Capital, existing investors Accenture, Balderton, Insight Partners, and Vanguard, and others. (link)

• Medeloop, a Menlo Park, Calif. clinical research analysis startup, raised $15M in Series A funding. Inovia Capital led, and was joined by Icon Ventures, General Catalyst and Maven Ventures, Healthier Capital, Up2 Opportunity Fund, and CFO Advisors. (link)

• Mediaire, a German radiology AI startup, raised €12M LBO France, with participation from IBB Ventures and Wille Finance. (link)

• Impilo, a provider of digital infrastructure for patient monitoring, raised $11.5M in Series A funding. Construct Capital led, and was joined by GC 1 Capital, One Way Ventures, 2048 Ventures, and influential strategic angels. (link)

• Upheal, a NYC-based documentation and note-taking AI platform for therapists, raised $10M in Series A funding. Headline led the round and was joined by Credo Ventures and Kaya Ventures. (link)

• Bluespine, a NYC-based AI-powered claims cost reduction platform for self-insured employers, raised $7.2M in seed funding. Team8 led the round and was joined by others. (link)

Other Relevant News 🔍

News, podcasts, blogs, tweets, resources, etc… 

• Bubbles in the AI startup market and the curious case of AI scribes (link)

• Trump nominates RFK Jr. to remake healthcare (link)

• AI in medicine: separating reality hype from reality (link)

• Former Cleveland Clinic, Google exec joins AI startup, Ambience (link)

• Lab testing disparities limit AI (link)

Visuals of the Week 📸

Funny memes, cool pics, and interesting data from around the web…