Short takes on news snippets from just about everywhere. It’s been that kind of a week. (Picture: the famous Raymond Loewy-designed ’49 Studebaker Commander, of which it was joked ‘you can’t tell whether it’s coming or going)

Google-owned YouTube has decided to take a more organized approach to healthcare content with the hiring from CVS Health of Garth Graham, MD, who will serve as its director and global head of healthcare. At CVS, he was chief community health officer and president of the Aetna Foundation. His portfolio will include the development of content from providers including the Cleveland Clinic, the Mayo Clinic, the National Academy of Health, and Harvard’s School of Public Health. It’s seen as a platform for video-formatted health education both US and globally. The importance to Google is evident in the reporting line: Dr. Graham will report to Karen DeSalvo, MD, the chief health officer at Google. One wonders if the next step is the curating (a/k/a demonetizing or removal) of health content not Google-generated. FierceHealthcare, YouTube press release

Some states have done well on COVID-19 distribution. Others haven’t. It apparently doesn’t matter if you’re large or small. In the US, states were given vaccines based on CDC information and consultation with them. The states then designed their own distribution and priorities. Here’s a running tally on Becker’s Hospital Review Meanwhile, back in Hackerville, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) confirmed on 12 January that data relating to regulatory submissions by Moderna, Pfizer, and BioNTech that were on a hacked server was leaked to the internet. Becker’s

In IPO/M&A news:

Centene Corporation is acquiring Magellan Health, a behavioral health, specialty healthcare, and pharmacy management company, for $2.2 billion. Centene continues its transformation into a UnitedHealthcare structured company, with payer programs on one side and health services including population health management, data analytics and other areas of health tech on the other side. Magellan will be operated independently. The deal requires Federal and state review, and is expected to close in second half 2021. Release  Magellan this week announced its lead investment in a $20 million Series B raise by Philadelphia-based NeuroFlow, a clinical behavioral health monitoring system. Philadelphia Business Journal

Amwell announced a public offering of over 11 million shares. The date and pricing for the offering were not mentioned in the release, but at the current share price of $28, this would raise in excess of $308 million. This is on top of their socko IPO last September which raised in excess of $700 million. 

Behavioral therapy continues to be hot, with online behavioral therapy company Talkspace going the SPAC ‘blank check’ route in merging with investor company Hudson Executive Investment. It provides them with $250 million cash. Estimated net revenue is $125 million in 2021, up 69 percent from 2020, creating an enterprise value of $1.4 bn, which is quite a reach. Healthcare Dive, release.

Medicare Advantage payer Clover Health of Jersey City, NJ also went the SPAC route this week with Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. III, giving it an enterprise value of approximately $3.7 billion. Clover Health styles itself as a health tech company as it analyzes member health and behavioral data to improve medical outcomes and lower costs for patients, many of whom have multiple chronic conditions or are classified as underserved.  Release

Israel’s Itamar Health, which focuses on integrating sleep apnea management into the cardiac patient care pathway, is buying SF-based Spry Health for an undisclosed amount. Founded in 2014, Spry has an FDA-cleared wrist-worn device, the Loop System, that monitors SpO2, respiration rate, and heart rate. Itamar plans to develop a wrist-worn device based on their Peripheral Arterial Tonometry (PAT) immediately, with initial market launch anticipated in 2022. Release

Hinge Health’s Series D raised $300 million and a new valuation of the company at $3 bn. (Remember when $1 bn was a unicorn amount?) Hinge’s specialty is musculoskeletal–a virtual MSK Clinic for back and joint pain care and rehab including access to physical therapists, physicians, health coaches, and wearable sensors to guide exercise therapy. Release

In startup news…Under the radar, Japan has been developing a crop of health tech startups. They were highlighted at this year’s virtual CES by Jetro–the Japan External Trade Organization. Their CES web page has a teaser video and sortable profiles on companies, many of which look very interesting. According to their materials, there are perhaps 10,000 Japan startups but few of them make it out of Japan. This Editor looked forward to their presentation on ‘Turning the Super Aging Society into a Super Smart Society’ yesterday evening, but virtual doesn’t mean that links work or events actually happen, so our reporting will attach some statistics on their super-aging society, as well as a comparison with other countries (PDF).