The large conference HLTH is underway in Las Vegas and like pre-Covid, conferences are a platform for announcements. Verily, which is Alphabet’s (Google’s) life sciences and health skunk works, and ResMed, a large company in respiratory medical devices for sleep apnea and sleep disruption treatment, have formed a joint venture, Primasun. Their target market is employers and providers to identify patients at risk for sleep disorders, particularly obstructive sleep apnea. About 75% of those in the US experience some form of sleep disruption at least a few times a week, leading to behavioral and physical problems. Mobihealthnews has the basic information on the launch but also some side information on Verily. Back in September, alongside a $1 billion raise to fund precision health, controversial founding CEO Andy Conrad announced he was stepping down effective in January 2023, replaced by current president Stephen Gillett. Dr. Conrad survived a brace of bad press back in 2016 [TTA 6 Apr 2016] and multiple ups and downs in the past six years.

Maven Clinic, a virtual care company targeting women and families, bucked the trends and locked up a $90 million Series E financing. Led by General Catalyst, there are nine other investors including La Famiglia, CVS Health Ventures, and Intermountain Ventures, bringing total funding to just under $300 million (Crunchbase) and unicorn valuation last year. Maven focuses on women’s health journey from fertility through menopause. The company claims to host 15 million members through primarily companies and health plans, and has contracts with half of the Fortune 15. Recently, they launched a menopause and ongoing care program with 1.2 million lives covered across 150 employer clients.  Release, Mobihealthnews  Notably, General Catalyst has been a bullish funder of both US and UK health systems such as Banner Health, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Hackensack Meridian Health, HCA, and Intermountain Health, along with Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in the UK. Mobihealthnews

Unfortunately, Mount Sinai spinoff Sema4 continues to cut back and restructure. Their latest round of layoffs affects 500, or 32.5% of its workforce. Sema4 will be exiting its reproductive and women’s health testing business and shuttering operations located in Stamford, Connecticut by end of Q1 2023. Going forward, they will concentrate operations in Maryland. In August, they discharged 250 staff, about 13% at that time, including its founder from both the president and director slots. With this latest restructuring, their workforce has been reduced to 1,100. Their release states that they will concentrate on their high growth, high margin pediatric and rare disease business using whole exome/genome diagnostic testing, achieve annual revenue growth in excess of 20%, and reach profitability by 2025. MarketWatch, Becker’s, Mobihealthnews