The election’s consequences for digital health

Hello,

I’m Blake Dodge, the healthcare team’s big tech reporter. I’m filling in for Lydia, who’s doing what many of us New Yorkers considered, before giving up: moving to Colorado.

I live in Carroll Gardens, where it’s easier to find vegan cafes and authentic French bakeries than a turkey sandwich. It’s not relevant to the newsletter or Lydia’s move… I’m just complaining.

This is the last Friday newsletter before the election on November 3, though many states won’t finish counting votes for days or weeks after.

President Donald Trump is facing a referendum on how he’s handled the coronavirus, which has now sickened more than nine million people in the US. There’s still no Big Plan to get things under control, as his chief of staff made clear this week.

We’ve been digging into what the results could mean for digital health after its pivotal year. 

Vaccines and treatments for COVID-19 are still center stage, and executives at biotechs behind that effort are raking in boatloads of cash, our biotech reporter Andrew Dunn uncovered.

Here’s your piece of good news heading into the weekend: coronavirus deaths are dropping compared to hospitalizations, in part because doctors are continuously getting better at this.

Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter here, and pass this along to your friends!

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Biotech execs are cashing in

Andrew’s deep dive into drug industry leaders’ SEC filings revealed that they’ve made more than $1 billion by selling stock this year. It’s totally legal, and a lot of the trades were done through automated trading plans. 

With graphics designer Sawyer Click and data from executive-compensation firm Equilar, our review found 20 biotech companies with stock climbs related to market enthusiasm for those products, 14 of which had insiders who made as much as $105 million from selling shares.

There’s no evidence of insider trading, but some of the companies offered unusual explanations for the trades. CytoDyn said that the stock sales by its CEO and chief scientist were used to pay a manufacturer without offering proof. That would be “an usual method of financing a company,” Andy wrote.

In other news regarding the messy race for coronavirus shots, vaccine frontrunner Pfizer is now running behind its timeline for releasing effectiveness data. CEO Albert Bourla asked for patience on the pharma giant’s earnings call, as Andrew reported.

To catch yourself up on the vaccine timeline, check out our freshly updated tracker. 

Read the full story here>>

Biotech execs hunting for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments have raked in more than $1 billion by selling company stock this year. Here are the 27 leaders who’ve cashed in the most.

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The unexpected consequences for healthcare startups of the US elections

The Affordable Care Act is up for debate in the Supreme Court a couple of weeks after the election, with a decision coming thereafter. The justices could strike down the ACA in its entirety or just parts of it, like the individual mandate that started this whole debate. 

President Donald Trump could attempt to repeal or further weaken the law if it survives SCOTUS. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, meanwhile, has promised to strengthen it. 

We dug into how the future of the ACA could affect the digital health industry.

Startups reporter Megan Hernbroth and I talked to 14 innovators and investors. They’re largely on the same page when it comes to the healthcare law. 

If it’s repealed, a lot of startups like Vida Health would lose business with insurers that offer plans on the individual exchanges, as one example. 

There’s also a degree of frustration with the continued, years-long uncertainty regarding US healthcare reform, I found. A few people told us that the market needs stability in order to grow. The creation of more than 20 million uninsured folks is not that.

Recall that the ACA’s implementation has coincided with record funding for digital health. Since the bill passed in 2010, startups have bagged sequential annual records in funding for all but two years, not counting 2020.

There’s four other crucial themes that digital health people are looking out for: payments for virtual care, internet access, each party’s healthcare philosophies, and the future of value-based care. 

Read the full story here>>

CEOs and VCs share how the presidential election could reshape the hottest part of healthcare, from how an ACA repeal might stifle startups, to who pays for telehealth

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Mental health is booming

Megan wrote about the huge influx of cash into mental health startups during the third quarter.

They saw a record number of deals because, as Megan put it, “Americans are depressed, stressed out, and looking for help.” 

With help from a new CB Insights report, she identified the startups with the most funding at a time when they’re servicing the country’s growing mental health needs with phones and online appointments. 

Many companies are signing deals to with those startups, creating a boon for a slice of the industry that’s typically been met with a degree of skepticism from investors, asking: Will workers use apps and therapists provided by their employers? 

It looks like the short answer is yes, with startups like Lyra Health, Ginger, and Brightline pulling in cash.

Read the full story here>>

Here are the 6 mental health startups raising the most cash as the pandemic overwhelms workers and companies

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I’ll leave you with some dispatches from our project collecting book recommendations from top young leaders at the likes of Google Health, Mayo Clinic, Doximity, PatientPing, and dozens of other healthcare companies..

It’s a list that’ll interest non-healthcare people as well as CEOs, from brief histories of humankind to the ins-and-outs of artificial intelligence in drug making. 

You can find out more about these books and the people who recommended them, the honorees of our 30-under-40 list, here.

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Good luck next week. Irrespective of the election results, you have Thanksgiving to look forward to.

But seriously: If Biden or Trump wins, how should we cover healthcare after November 3? What’s at stake for big tech’s health businesses?

Let me know at bdodge@businessinsider.com or find the whole team at healthcare@businessinsider.com.

– Blake