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Elizabeth Holmes aims to undercut prosecution’s claim of deception
Elizabeth Holmes testified in the Theranos fraud trial Monday that the company’s blood-testing technology ‘performed well’ in early studies with drug makers such as Merck, Astra Zeneca, and Bristol Myers Squibb. The line of questioning by the defense — fielded with slow, steady replies from Holmes — was meant to rebut testimony by prosecution witnesses suggesting the company sent falsified reports on validation testing by drug companies to investors. Holmes also countered testimony from a Pfizer director, Shane Weber, who told jurors that Theranos’ replies to his technical questions were at times ‘deflective or evasive.’
advertisement By calling Holmes to testify, her lawyers are betting that she will be able cast doubt on prosecutors’ narrative that she deliberately misled investors and the company’s potential clients. The big question is how she will hold up under cross examination.
Biotech’s big data problem is all too human
advertisement As biological datasets have exploded in size, biotechs need data scientists to process their plentiful petabytes. But many are struggling to hire enough researchers with the computational know-how needed for the job. ‘Executives believe the gap might [become] fourfold unless they start acting now,’ Parag Patel, a partner at McKinsey and Company focusing on the life sciences industry, told STAT. Part of the problem is supply and demand: There are only so many top-tier data scientists, and pharma is competing for them against companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook that can not only pay more, but are often more data-proficient, too. ‘It can get frustrating just cleaning up dirty data,’ said Neal Cheng, a data scientist who left biotech to work at eBay. Read more about the biotech brain crunch in our colleague Angus Chen’s new story.
Verily’s clinical trials business leans into data
At the STAT Summit last week, Katie spoke with Verily’s leaders about their plans for their clinical trials infrastructure, just one arm of the life science company’s sprawling and sometimes unfocused business. Amy Abernethy, who joined the Alphabet subsidiary over the summer after championing real-world data and evidence at the FDA as principal deputy commissioner, described her next steps as president of clinical trials platforms. ‘Practically speaking, we are going to focus on building longitudinal datasets that can be put to use for understanding the contours of illness,’ said Abernethy, adding that such data could be used ‘to test multiple different treatments simultaneously.’ Abernethy said the company hopes to create a vast repository combining real-world data, medical records, and traditional clinical trial data. Mario has more details.
The dream of data-sharing in 2030
By the end of this decade, public health response and preparedness will be driven by access to real-time data. In this day and age, that seems like a fairly basic desire. But it is among many distant goals that made it onto a new interoperability wish list compiled by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. To help guide its policy roadmap, ONC asked providers and other stakeholders to list outcomes they hope to achieve through enhanced data interoperability by 2030. The agency received more than 700 responses. Among the other priorities on the list: Patients and doctors will be able to compare the costs of drugs, tests, and procedures online before the bill comes in.
Epic’s sepsis alerts skyrocketed during the pandemic
A general rule for AI models is that they should be trained on data from the kind of patients they are likely to see in real clinical settings. But what happens when the AI encounters a fundamental change, like the onset of Covid-19? A new study of a sepsis algorithm developed by Epic Systems found that the number of alerts it generated in two dozen hospitals jumped 43% in the first three weeks after Covid-19 hit. The study by researchers at the University of Michigan did not measure the accuracy of the alerts, but pointed out the increased volume may contribute to alert fatigue and prove detrimental at a time of constrained resources. The finding also points to the need for careful monitoring and governance of AI algorithms after they are implemented.
(Chime) Meanwhile, clinical predictive tools continue to be adopted around the country, as new survey data from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives shows. In the last year, the percentage of surveyed acute care organizations with predictive tools integrated into clinician workflows increased from 44% to 55% — using a mix of homegrown tools along with those from EHRs and third parties. Among ambulatory care providers, adoption was at 52%, and at 40% in long-term post-acute care facilities.
Athenahealth’s acquisition & moves for AI drug discovery
EHR company Athenahealth will be acquired for $17 billion by two private equity firms, Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman, the second time the company has changed hands in three years. Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital bought the company for $5.7 billion in 2019. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.
U.K.-based digital mental health company Ieso, which provides online CBT to NHS patients, closed a $53 million Series B round led by Morningside, along with investments from Sony Innovation Fund, IP Group, Molten Ventures, and Ananda Social Venture Fund.
Tempus, the precision medicine company that is reportedly eyeing an IPO in early 2022, announced a growing partnership with Epic. The company will expand its EHR integrations to order genomic sequencing and deliver their results across Epic’s network.
Medicare startup EasyHealth, founded just last year, raised $135 million in a funding round led by both Anthemis Group and QED Investors. Additional investors included Victory Park Capital and Nationwide Ventures, among others.
Generate Biomedicines, a company founded by VC firm Flagship Pioneering to focus on algorithmic discovery of therapeutic proteins, raised $370 million. Investors in this Series B round include Flagship, Altitude Life Science Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, and Morningside Ventures.
Meanwhile, plenty of others are looking to take a slice of the AI drug discovery pie: Red Cell Partners has formed a new company called Zephyr AI, which also aims to identify new drugs, biomarkers, and therapeutic applications using AI.
Movers & shakers
Talkspace has lost another leader. After its cofounders Roni and Oren Frank departed with an abrupt announcement last week, president and COO Mark Hirschhorn has resigned over conduct at a company offsite. Mario works through the impact on the online therapy company here.
The digital therapeutics company Kaia Health has tapped Nigel Ohrenstein to serve as president of the company, which delivers care for conditions such as musculoskeletal pain and COPD. Ohrenstein co-founded the data analytics company Lumeris.
H1, an online global network for health care professionals, has appointed Ziad Ismail to be its chief operating officer. Ismail most recently served as chief product officer for Convoy, a company using analytics to reinvent the trucking industry.
What we’re reading
https://www.statnews.com/2021/11/23/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-athenahealth-acquisition/
