ANAHEIM, Calif. – The digital health wave is impacting seemingly every aspect of health care, from digital therapeutics where software is the therapy to powerful analytics that bring actionable insights to aid in a clinical situation.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Varian Medical Systems Inc. has won the U.S. FDA’s nod for its Ethos therapy, an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven holistic solution that is aiming to transform cancer care. This solution is designed to deliver an entire adaptive treatment in a typical 15-minute slot and is intended to put the patient at the center of care, noted Chris Toth, president of Varian Oncology Systems.

Brisbane, Calif.-based Caption Health Inc. received good news from the U.S. FDA, which has given a thumbs up to Caption Guidance. This software aims to assist medical professionals in the acquisition of cardiac ultrasound images and uses artificial intelligence (AI) to provide real-time guidance.

Early detection of neurodegenerative disease even before symptoms emerge is the ideal when it comes to trying to treat or prevent progression. But that has remained difficult, as brain tissue that isn’t available until after death is typically the most definitive. Now, researchers have used an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to identify genetic expression data over time and correlate them in blood and postmortem brain tissue samples from subjects with either Alzheimer’s or Huntington’s disease.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Translating novel technology into the care delivery system is not easy, according to Maulik Majmudar, medical officer at Bellevue, Wash.-based Amazon.com Inc. In fact, he said at the Precision Medicine World Conference that “it’s a hot mess.” In his presentation, Majmudar spoke about the classic barriers that prevent technologies from getting adopted at scale in a timeline that's usually feasible for early- and mid-stage startups – and even for large companies – and developing strategies to overcome those challenges.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – While many of the presentations at the Precision Medicine World Conference revolved around clinical studies and their promise for future breakthroughs in health care, a continuous stream of companies made their pitches for translating these studies into actual products that can benefit patients now.

Unlike with other kinds of cancer, there’s no opportunity for a biopsy ahead of surgery for a suspected brain tumor. To help matters, researchers have developed a novel approach that combines a new, commercially available imaging technology – stimulated Raman histology (SRH) – with an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to offer a diagnosis of brain tumors in just a couple of minutes. They published the results of a study in the Jan. 6, 2020, issue of Nature Medicine that determined their approach was noninferior to standard pathologist interpretation of histologic images.

Artificial intelligence (AI) health care startup Cardiologs Technologies SAS scooped up $15 million in a series A funding round led by Alven Capital Partners. The Paris-based company, which has an artificial intelligence-based platform to quickly diagnose cardiac arrhythmias, plans to use the money to grow its sales and marketing efforts across North America and Europe. The funds will also be used to advance the platform’s capabilities. Also participating in the financing were previous investors Bpifrance, Isai, Kurma Diagnostics, Idinvest Partners and Paris Saclay Seed Fund.

HONG KONG – South Korean-based med-tech Lunit Inc., of Seoul, has secured ₩30 billion (US$25.6 million) in series C funding. Founded in 2013, the Korean company has raised $50 million so far. Lunit’s corporate value was evaluated at as much as ₩200 billion as of the fundraising.