The Digital Health Newsletter by Paul Sonnier
May 27, 2017
Greetings!
Venture capitalists are increasingly betting on sleep-focused startups , which is a great thing considering the latest analysis on poor sleep and its association with an increased risk of death.
As Joanna Glasner reports in TechCrunch, sleep-focused startups have raised more than $700 million in the past couple of years. And while not a discrete investment category, most are of the digital health variety, i.e. medical and consumer apps, services, and/or devices. Plus, there are pharmaceuticals, media (e.g. Arianna Huffington's Thrive Global, a media platform with a stated mission of ending the epidemic of stress and burnout), and mattress companies (e.g. Casper).

Stanford University researchers have found that poor sleep is linked to a higher death risk for people with heart and blood sugar issues . Looking at  data of people with metabolic diseases and survival after 16 years, the researchers reported that individuals who had 3 or more related diseases/risks and slept less than 6 hours per night were two times more likely to have died as compared with others who had similar risks, but slept at least 6 hours each night.
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"Digital health is the convergence of the digital and genomic revolutions with health, healthcare, living, and society." - Paul Sonnier
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HEALTHCARE
At long last, Texas will finally allow patients to use telehealth services like Teladoc (ironically, the company is headquartered in the state) Texas is one of eighteen states that never expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Plus, with five million uninsured, it holds the dubious distinction of being the state with the most residents not having health insurance. As such, less expensive and more accessible healthcare is a critical need.
A JAMA op-ed "Direct-to-Consumer Medical Testing in the Era of Value-Based Care" received sharp criticism from Dr. Eric Topol, who tweeted: "Dissing every consumer medical test as "low value". Sorry, that's not true. It's called paternalism." That's a pretty succinct and justifiable slam of a weak, overreaching critique of the massive opportunities and benefits (economic and health) to be had via DTC health and medical testing.
IN OTHER NEWS
After taking on a new round of funding to the tune of $325M, live-streaming spinning class provider Peloton is the latest digital health unicorn.  A startup is considered a unicorn when it's valuations passes the $1B mark. Competitor company Flywheel also plans to introduce bikes for the home.
The University of Newcastle in Australia is using virtual reality (VR) to teach midwives how to safely deliver babies in life-or-death situations. The educational project puts students in a virtual delivery room, then has them respond to issues like having to resuscitate a newborn baby.
Hound Labs and Cannabix Technologies are competing to develop handheld breathalyzers for marijuana. The main purpose of these devices is testing impairment of drivers on the road, but they hold the potential of being used for measuring and titrating the dosage of medical marijuana.
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