New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has had a boon with strong pharmaceutical sales growth in recent years. But that also forced the medical conglomerate to address the much poorer performances for its medical device and consumer business.

Health care coordination programs, which integrate everything from machine learning, apps, connected devices and wearables to online and in-person care, seem to be the latest digital health investment trend. The aim is to offer programs that demonstrably improve patient outcome and costs with built-in analytics to prove it.

There has long been debate about the role of artificial intelligence in health care, will it primarily aid physicians or replace them? Now, the FDA has approved the first autonomous AI system for medical use: a diabetic retinopathy screening system from Iowa City, Iowa-based startup Idx LLC.

Late last year, Owlstone Medical Ltd. made a deal with Glaxosmithkline plc to include its breath biopsy system in a phase II trial for a chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) candidate. The latest pharma deal for the Cambridge, U.K.-based startup is with Astrazeneca plc and also in respiratory, but this time the partnership is a bit more expansive, covering the identification of biomarkers related to disease phenotypes that are relevant in asthma and COPD.