According to Morning Consult, over 70% of US adults are “concerned” about artificial intelligence in healthcare. Baby Boomers were the most anxious, with 77%, while Millenials and GenZers tied at 63%. individuals surveyed were most comfortable with the idea of AI assisting with administrative work, and, fortunately for all companies competing in the ambient AI market, 48% of individuals said they would be fine with their medical session being filmed and using AI to take notes. The lowest level of comfort, 34%, was with AI assisting with surgical procedures. A substantial majority – three out of four respondents – believe healthcare practitioners should warn patients when AI will be used.
According to a notification filed with the Texas Workforce Commission, Babylon, the ailing digital health startup looking for a buyer, informed the agency that it would “permanently close” its Austin offices on August 7 and lay off 94 employees immediately. Babylon has stated that it will “exit” the US market. As of December 2022, Babylon had approximately 660 employees in the United States and approximately 260,000 patients in value-based care partnerships with insurers. Requests for response from the company and CEO Ali Parsa have gone unanswered.
Pipeline & Deal Updates
Manufacturing: Ginkgo Bioworks announced a deal with Merck to improve biologic manufacturing. The deal, which is the second collaboration between the companies, is worth up to $490 million depending on hitting certain milestones.
Immunotherapy Resistance: Georgiamune, which is developing a monoclonal antibody that’s aimed at cancer patients for whom checkpoint inhibitors failed, raised a $75 million series A round co-led by the Parker Institute and General Catalyst.
Genetic Medicine: Alltrna, which is developing a class of genetic medicines based on tRNA, raised a $109 million series B round led by Flagship Pioneering, which founded the company.
Sequencing Collaboration: PacBio and GeneDx announced that they’re entering into a research collaboration with the university of Washington to study the possibility of using genome sequencing to identify potential genetic disorders for pediatric patients.
