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<p>Hello,</p><p>Welcome to <keyword id="11894896" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="insider-healthcare" source="Orion">Insider Healthcare</keyword>. I'm Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer, back at the helm of the newsletter for the day. Today in <keyword id="11897506" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="healthcare" source="Orion">healthcare</keyword> news:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/people-who-make-or-break-your-digital-health-startup-2021-7"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-panel-backs-pfizers-covid-19-shot-for-kids-ages-5-11-2021-10">An expert panel recommended the FDA authorize Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for kids 5 to 11 years old</a>;</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-eqrxs-alexis-borisy-is-challenging-us-drug-pricing-2021-10">A serial biotech entrepreneur explains why he's taking on his own industry</a>;</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/purchaser-business-group-on-health-launches-pharmacy-benefit-manager-2021-10">A group of companies got fed up with drug-industry middlemen, so it came up with its own solution</a>.</li></ul><p>If you're new to this newsletter, <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/insider-healthcare">sign up here.</a> Comments, tips? Find me at <a href="mailto:lramsey@insider.com">lramsey@insider.com</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/lydiaramsey125">@lydiaramsey125</a>. Let's get to it...</p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-panel-backs-pfizers-covid-19-shot-for-kids-ages-5-11-2021-10"></a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-panel-backs-pfizers-covid-19-shot-for-kids-ages-5-11-2021-10">The FDA's expert panel just gave a thumbs-up for Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in younger children, clearing the path for authorization in a matter of days</a></h3><ul><li>An FDA panel voted Tuesday in support of using <keyword id="11897118" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="pfizer" source="Orion">Pfizer</keyword>'s COVID-19 <keyword id="11894310" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="vaccine" source="Orion">vaccine</keyword> in younger kids.</li><li>Five- to 11-year-old children could get the shot in early November, if the FDA and CDC sign off.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-panel-backs-pfizers-covid-19-shot-for-kids-ages-5-11-2021-10">Pfizer is applying to use a lower-strength dose in this younger age group.</a></li></ul><p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-panel-backs-pfizers-covid-19-shot-for-kids-ages-5-11-2021-10">Here's what you need to know&gt;&gt;</a></strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-eqrxs-alexis-borisy-is-challenging-us-drug-pricing-2021-10"><div type="image" title="CEO EQRX Alexis Borisy" height="1234" width="1645" msid="87312300" hostid="261"></div></a></p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-eqrxs-alexis-borisy-is-challenging-us-drug-pricing-2021-10">Why serial biotech entrepreneur Alexis Borisy wants to stop the 'great big party' on drug pricing and take on his own industry</a></h3><ul><li>Alexis Borisy has helped launch more than a dozen biotechs, but <keyword id="12402231" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="eqrx" source="Orion">EQRx</keyword> might be his most ambitious.</li><li>Borisy told Insider why he's now challenging the industry's "great big party" of drug pricing.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-eqrxs-alexis-borisy-is-challenging-us-drug-pricing-2021-10">EQRx plans to raise up to $1.8 billion by going public through a SPAC before the end of 2021. </a></li></ul><p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-eqrxs-alexis-borisy-is-challenging-us-drug-pricing-2021-10">Read more from the interview&gt;&gt;</a></strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/purchaser-business-group-on-health-launches-pharmacy-benefit-manager-2021-10"><div type="image" title="Pharmacy Counter" height="1333" width="1777" msid="87312301" hostid="261"></div></a></p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/purchaser-business-group-on-health-launches-pharmacy-benefit-manager-2021-10">A group backed by huge employers like Boeing and Walmart is fed up with the ways drug-industry middlemen drum up profits. So it created its own alternative to lower drug costs.</a></h3><ul><li>Employers are fed up with the secretive ways drug-industry middlemen drum up profits.</li><li>So one employer group created a pharmacy-benefit manager that promises a clear view into drug costs.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/purchaser-business-group-on-health-launches-pharmacy-benefit-manager-2021-10">The new PBM will have to compete in an industry dominated by three massive companies. </a></li></ul><p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/purchaser-business-group-on-health-launches-pharmacy-benefit-manager-2021-10">Find out more&gt;&gt;</a></strong></p><p><strong>More stories we're reading:</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-alexa-hospitals-echo-next-to-us-hospital-bed-2021-10">Amazon is putting Alexa next to hospital beds throughout the US. It says it will boost productivity because staff can go into patients' rooms less.</a> (Insider)</li><li><a href="https://www.statnews.com/2021/10/26/psilocybin-patent-highlights-swirling-battle-over-psychedelics-intellectual-property/">Competition is heating up around psilocybin patents</a> (Stat)</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/the-best-halloween-candy-to-fuel-workouts-fitness-expert-2021-10">The best candy to eat before and after your workout to boost performance and support recovery</a> (Insider)</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reviews/out?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Feli-lilly-asks-fda-to-approve-alzheimers-drug-11635262324">Lilly has started asking the FDA to approve its Alzheimer's treatment</a> (The Wall Street Journal) </li></ul><p>- Lydia </p>

The FDA's expert panel backs Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccines for younger kids

<p>Hello,</p><p>Welcome to Insider <keyword id="11897506" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="healthcare" source="Orion">Healthcare</keyword>. I'm Shelby Livingston, and I cover how healthcare is paid for and delivered in the US for the Insider healthcare team. Today in healthcare news:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-biotech-interviews-drug-pricing-approach-spac-controversy-2021-8">EQRx plans to disrupt the drug industry with lower prices, but industry insiders question its strategy; </a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-gains-full-fda-approval-2021-8">The FDA fully approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, a move that could boost vaccinations;</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biotech-pharmaceutical-salaries-engineering-scientists-data-lilly-pfizer-novartis-moderna-2021-8">Here's what biopharma companies like Novartis and Pfizer pay their scientists, doctors, and engineers.</a></li></ul><p>If you're new to this newsletter, <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/insider-healthcare">sign up here.</a></p><p>Do you have comments or tips about health insurers or healthcare providers? Email me at <u><a href="mailto:slivingston@insider.com">slivingston@insider.com</a></u> or tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/ShelbyJLiv">@ShelbyJLiv</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-biotech-interviews-drug-pricing-approach-spac-controversy-2021-8"><div type="image" title="eqrx" height="720" width="960" msid="85594466" hostid="261"></div></a></p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-biotech-interviews-drug-pricing-approach-spac-controversy-2021-8">EQRx has an ambitious plan to undercut the entire biotech industry with cheaper drugs. Can it work?</a></h3><ul><li>EQRx is raising billions of dollars, and an even bigger debate, with an ambitious drug-pricing plan.</li><li>The biotech plans to price drugs 50% to 70% below competition - a radical approach in the industry.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-biotech-interviews-drug-pricing-approach-spac-controversy-2021-8">While EQRx is closing a massive SPAC deal to go public, skeptics question its strategy and hype.</a></li></ul><p><strong style="color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-biotech-interviews-drug-pricing-approach-spac-controversy-2021-8">Catch up on the latest here&gt;&gt;</a></strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-gains-full-fda-approval-2021-8"><div type="image" title="Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine" height="593" width="791" msid="85594468" hostid="261"></div></a></p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-gains-full-fda-approval-2021-8">The FDA just fully approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in a move that could lead to more vaccinations</a></h3><ul><li>The Food and Drug Administration on Monday fully approved Pfizer-BioNTech's <keyword id="11893194" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus" source="Orion">coronavirus</keyword> <keyword id="11894310" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="vaccine" source="Orion">vaccine</keyword>.</li><li>The two-dose shot is now the first and, so far, only <keyword id="11893994" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19" source="Orion">COVID-19</keyword> vaccine to get full <keyword id="11899468" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="fda" source="Orion">FDA</keyword> approval.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-gains-full-fda-approval-2021-8">The shot was previously OK'd under emergency-use authorization, a more flexible regulatory standard.</a></li></ul><p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-gains-full-fda-approval-2021-8">Read the full story&gt;&gt;</a></strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biotech-pharmaceutical-salaries-engineering-scientists-data-lilly-pfizer-novartis-moderna-2021-8"><div type="image" title="Moderna vaccine" height="1333" width="2000" msid="85594470" hostid="261"></div></a></p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biotech-pharmaceutical-salaries-engineering-scientists-data-lilly-pfizer-novartis-moderna-2021-8">Biopharma salaries revealed: How much companies like Novartis, Pfizer, Johnson &amp; Johnson, and Moderna pay scientists, engineers, doctors, and lawyers</a></h3><ul><li>The <keyword id="11908913" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="pharmaceutical" source="Orion">pharmaceutical</keyword> and biotech sector has experienced massive growth during the pandemic.</li><li>Some firms are offering new hires in areas like engineering and data science six-figure salaries.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biotech-pharmaceutical-salaries-engineering-scientists-data-lilly-pfizer-novartis-moderna-2021-8">We analyzed data for companies like Novartis, Moderna, and Pfizer to find out how much they pay.</a></li></ul><p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biotech-pharmaceutical-salaries-engineering-scientists-data-lilly-pfizer-novartis-moderna-2021-8">Find out more&gt;&gt;</a></strong></p><p><strong>More stories we're reading today:</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quiz-salaries-compensation-biotech-and-pharmaceutical-companies-2021-8">The pandemic created a bunch of biotech billionaires. Take our 5-question quiz to see how well you know the pay trends shaping the drug industry.</a> (Insider)</li><li><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/08/22/private-consultants-vaccination-drive-outsourced/">How the U.S. vaccination drive came to rely on an army of consultants</a> (The Washington Post)</li><li><a href="https://khn.org/news/article/pandemic-unveils-growing-suicide-crisis-for-communities-of-color/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20Daily%20Health%20Policy%20Report&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsmi=152027116&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz--qDVt9Yj1VjHwFPZmPnkabxzHSHdMg4x47KoIdNST2qk5qVwPfltQPy9G98aXAQz1ejY9odSWL7uVCDCe72och2fU-XH8_XdY-QJomnK2l8cswVIA&amp;utm_content=152027116&amp;utm_source=hs_email;utm_source=hs_email">Pandemic unveils growing suicide crisis for communities of color</a> (Kaiser Health News)</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-zealand-new-lockdown-is-scary-but-the-right-thing-2021-8">I'm in New Zealand, where a single COVID-19 case sent the whole country back into lockdown. It's scary, but it's the right thing to do.</a> (Insider)</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-delta-variant-changed-course-of-pandemic-2021-8">How the Delta variant has changed the course of the pandemic</a> (Insider)</li></ul><p>- Shelby</p>

EQRx has a bold strategy to disrupt biotech

<p>Hello, </p><p>Well, it wasn't quite the rain-soaked, networking-filled week I've grown accustomed to preparing for every January when trekking out to the J.P. Morgan <keyword id="6354525" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="healthcare">Healthcare</keyword> Conference. But I will say I'm pretty grateful to come out of this week without a ruined pair of shoes and without the classic post-JPM cold.</p><p>Thanks to all who shared their plans for this week. I got the sense that everyone seemed to be having a slowed-down week with some meetings, but more to come spread out over the next few weeks. FierceBiotech's Amirah Al Idrus <a href="https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/jpm-what-does-a-virtual-j-p-morgan-healthcare-conference-mean-for-future-meeting-executives">has a good recap of how executives navigated the virtual event</a>. </p><p>While there weren't the typical mega-deals announced this week, we still managed to keep busy, welcoming <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/allison-deangelis">Allison DeAngelis</a> to the team, covering some of the presentations <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walgreens-has-an-in-house-startup-thats-building-a-new-healthcare-delivery-model-2021-1">including a Walgreens one that teased the retail giant's 200-person startup</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-is-quietly-starting-a-venture-to-guide-healthy-shopping-2021-1">breaking some news on Walmart's latest health-related work</a> along the way. </p><p>Let's dive in.</p><p>First - are you new to this newsletter? <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/insider-healthcare">Sign up here - and tell your friends - to get daily dispatches from our growing healthcare team. </a></p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-healthcare-conference-winners-losers-takeaways-2021-1"><div type="image" title="Moderna biotech lab" height="3840" width="5120" msid="80290976" hostid="261"></div></a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-healthcare-conference-winners-losers-takeaways-2021-1">A very virtual JPMorgan week </a></h3><p>In the absence of any industry-shattering news, there was still plenty to cover in the world of <keyword id="45082" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="biotech">biotech</keyword> this week.</p><p>To start, I caught up with the <keyword id="10579443" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="eqrx">EQRx</keyword> team a year in to discuss their vision of disrupting Big Pharma by developing drugs that are cheaper.<strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-raises-500-million-series-b-develop-drugs-charge-less-2021-1">The update: the team is now 100 employees, it raised $500 million, and its CEO told me it's moving faster than expected toward its first approval. </a></strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/andrew-dunn">Andrew Dunn</a> spoke with the CEO of Verve Therapeutics, which is working on a gene-editing treatment for heart disease.<strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/verve-ceo-interview-gene-editing-for-heart-disease-new-data-2021-1">The CEO shared his 3-step vision for the one-and-done heart treatment.</a></strong></p><p>And in her first (!) byline for Business Insider, Allison teamed up with Andrew for a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sana-biotechnology-files-to-go-public-ipo-takeaways-s-1-2021-1">close read of Sana Biotechnology's initial public offering paperwork. </a></p><p>They found the 5 most crucial takeaways from the 271-page filing. <strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sana-biotechnology-files-to-go-public-ipo-takeaways-s-1-2021-1">Read them here. </a></strong></p><p>An area to have on your radars this year: Microbiome-based drugs. As part of our <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-investors-and-vcs-share-2021-predictions-2020-12">predictions coverage from the end of last year</a>, a top <keyword id="47361" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="VC">VC</keyword> shared <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/4-microbiome-companies-turning-gut-bacteria-into-tomorrows-drugs-2021-1">why biotechs that harness the microbiome to battle diseases could soar in 2021.</a></p><p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/4-microbiome-companies-turning-gut-bacteria-into-tomorrows-drugs-2021-1">Patricia Kelly Yeo and Andrew have the story here&gt;&gt; </a></strong></p><p>To wrap up the week, Andrew and Allison broke down the winners and losers from this year's JPMorgan conference week. </p><p>A clear loser: the conference itself. I'll let them explain why. </p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-healthcare-conference-winners-losers-takeaways-2021-1">Read the full story here&gt;&gt;</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-healthcare-conference-winners-losers-takeaways-2021-1">A reinvigorated Alzheimer's treatment and gene-therapy setbacks: 3 winners and 3 losers from the healthcare industry's most important event of the year</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/atria-senior-living-requires-us-employees-to-get-covid-shots-2021-1"><div type="image" title="uk coronavirus variant closer look 4x3" height="1800" width="2400" msid="80290980" hostid="261"></div></a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/atria-senior-living-requires-us-employees-to-get-covid-shots-2021-1">There's still a pandemic happening</a></h3><p>I have to say, reminding myself of when I went out to JPMorgan in 2016 when the Zika virus was spreading makes me a little grateful for the quieter conference week as attention stays on the pandemic. </p><p>This week, Andrew, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/hilary-brueck">Hilary Brueck</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/kimberly-leonard">Kimberly Leonard</a> pulled together <strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-vaccine-questions-cost-side-effects-timeline-2021-1">answers to your 24 most burning questions about the coronavirus vaccine, from side effects and costs to when you'll be able to get one.</a></strong></p><p>And as the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-uk-hospitals-nhs-collapsei-doctors-nurses-2021-1">UK continues to get slammed by the virus, </a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/catherine-schuster-bruce">Dr. Catherine Schuster-Bruce</a> <strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-variants-uk-south-africa-brazil-us-facts-questions-2021-1">has the answers to 9 crucial questions about the coronavirus variants circulating around the world. </a></strong></p><p>The US vaccine rollout has continued to be bumpy, an issue that becomes the Biden administration's problem starting next Wednesday. </p><p>To help, President-elect Joe Biden <strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-david-kessler-operation-warp-speed-slaoui-vaccines-2021-1">has chosen Dr. David Kessler, a former FDA commissioner, to lead Operation Warp Speed in Moncef Slaoui's place. </a></strong></p><p>One facet that's made the rollout slower: a high number of workers at senior living facilities have turned down the shots. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/shelby-livingston">Shelby Livingston</a> spoke to one company that's now requiring its workers to get the vaccine. </p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/atria-senior-living-requires-us-employees-to-get-covid-shots-2021-1">Read the full story here&gt;&gt;</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/atria-senior-living-requires-us-employees-to-get-covid-shots-2021-1">A major chain of senior living facilities will require more than 10,000 workers to get COVID-19 shots</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-is-quietly-starting-a-venture-to-guide-healthy-shopping-2021-1"><div type="image" title="walmart new test stores" height="1665" width="2220" msid="80290981" hostid="261"></div></a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-is-quietly-starting-a-venture-to-guide-healthy-shopping-2021-1">We got a better picture of retailers' next big healthcare plans</a></h3><p>While Andrew and Allison were tuning into pharma and biotech presentations, Shelby was tuned into what the health plans, health systems, and pharmacies had to say. </p><p>On the health plan front,<strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/health-insurer-harvard-pilgrim-launches-virtual-primary-care-plan-2020-11">UnitedHealthcare became the latest insurer to offer a plan that encourages members to seek out virtual care rather than in-person care.</a> </strong>The news sent Teladoc's stock down 3% on Thursday. </p><p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/megan-hernbroth">Megan Hernbroth</a> spoke with fertility benefits company Progyny about its rocky 2020. <strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fertility-benefits-company-progyny-growth-plans-for-2021-2021-1">Progyny's CEO shared with Megan how the company is pursuing an aggressive growth strategy fueled by acquisitions for 2021.</a></strong></p><p>During Walgreens' presentation, the retail pharmacy shared that it's got a 200-person in-house startup that's working on improving healthcare. The details were slim for now, but <strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walgreens-has-an-in-house-startup-thats-building-a-new-healthcare-delivery-model-2021-1">Shelby pulled together what you need to know here</a></strong>. </p><p>It was interesting to hear about coming off the heels of news <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/blake-dodge">Blake Dodge</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/aine-cain">Áine Cain</a> broke earlier in the week about Walmart. </p><p>They found that Walmart's building a new venture through its incubation arm Store No. 8 focused on using data to help shoppers make healthier choices. </p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-is-quietly-starting-a-venture-to-guide-healthy-shopping-2021-1">Read the full scoop here&gt;&gt;</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-is-quietly-starting-a-venture-to-guide-healthy-shopping-2021-1">SCOOP: Walmart is working on a stealth health-tech venture that could change how you shop</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/billion-dollar-startups-that-are-revolutionizing-healthcare-2021-1"><div type="image" title="TempusLab_2018_2" height="2425" width="3234" msid="80290984" hostid="261"></div></a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/billion-dollar-startups-that-are-revolutionizing-healthcare-2021-1">What to expect with the next wave of healthcare startups</a></h3><p>The start of a new year is a good time to take stock of where the digital health industry stands. From just-budding <keyword id="6362513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="startups">startups</keyword> to newly minted unicorns to publicly traded players, it's seeming like 2021 will be a critical year for the sector as the pandemic (hopefully) starts to ebb. </p><p>On the early-stage side, Megan spoke with Lynne Chou O'Keefe, the founder of Define Ventures, about the firm's latest $200 million fund. <strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exclusive-define-ventures-just-raised-200-million-for-second-fund-2021-1">She shared with Megan why she wants to back founders that are building businesses for their communities.</a></strong></p><p>One type of startup to keep an eye out for in 2021: companies that sound a lot like Livongo. <strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alphabets-growth-fund-is-eyeing-the-next-crop-of-livongos-2021-1">That's according to CapitalG partner Sumi Das, who anticipates the new crop of startups will be fueled by the rising cost of chronic care.</a> </strong></p><p>Startups, billionaire investor Vinod Khosla said at a Startup Health chat on Tuesday, should be wary of working with entrenched players. While talking about the work that BioNTech did with Pfizer to speed up the development and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, Khosla said that "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vc-khosla-said-insiders-wouldve-slowed-down-vaccine-progress-2021-1">collaboration is generally BS-with some exceptions.</a>"</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vc-khosla-said-insiders-wouldve-slowed-down-vaccine-progress-2021-1">Read his full explanation as to why here&gt;&gt;</a> </strong></p><p>As some digital health startups get bigger, it's been interesting to see how their strategies evolve.</p><p>Megan spoke with $1.5 billion digital-health startup Ro about its goal to to be your online doctor. <strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/digital-health-startup-ro-future-relies-on-testing-2021-1">She got a look at how its coronavirus response strategy, rooted in rapid at-home testing, fits into the new unicorn's long-term strategy.</a></strong></p><p>Also on the bigger end of digital health, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/hugh-langley">Hugh Langley</a> and Blake rounded up all the departures from Alphabet's life sciences arm Verily in the last year. </p><p>Their final tally: 20 top execs and managers left in the past year, including its head of people operations who's set to depart in January. <strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/list-all-the-top-execs-and-managers-left-verily-in-2021-1">Read the full list here.</a></strong></p><p>And now that there's a bigger crop of publicly traded digital health companies, it's interesting to see which ones analysts think will take off in the coming year. Kelly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rbcs-top-6-digital-health-stocks-to-buy-in-2021-1">reports on RBC Capital Markets' six top stock picks, including one that could pop by 30%. </a></p><p>I'll leave you with the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/billion-dollar-startups-that-are-revolutionizing-healthcare-2021-1">billion-dollar+ healthcare startups</a> we're keeping our eye on in 2021. It's an ever-changing list we'll be sure to update as companies make their public debuts and others reach the "unicorn" threshold. </p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/billion-dollar-startups-that-are-revolutionizing-healthcare-2021-1">Read the full list here&gt;&gt;</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/billion-dollar-startups-that-are-revolutionizing-healthcare-2021-1">The 26 billion-dollar startups to watch that are revolutionizing healthcare in 2021</a></h3><p><strong>I'll leave you with some great healthcare-related stories from other desks around the Business Insider newsroom. </strong></p><ul><li>Advertising senior reporter <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/tanya-dua">Tanya Dua</a> has a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-current-state-of-covid-19-vaccine-marketing-efforts-2021-1">great story on the marketing efforts underway to convince people to get vaccinated</a>.</li><li> Legal correspondent <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/jack-newsham">Jack Newsham</a> reports that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/theranos-prosecutors-useless-database-elizabeth-holmes-sunny-balwani-2021-1">the Feds say that Theranos "dumped" a double-encrypted database of blood tests on them that was useless, then the company destroyed the original.</a></li><li>Kimberly had one last interview with Medicare chief Seema Verma before she leaves her post.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/seema-verma-has-no-regrets-medicare-medicaid-obamacare-trump-2021-1">Verma said that she has no regrets about her tenure, even amid backlash</a>. </li><li>Kimberly also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-prescription-drug-price-gift-certificates-medicare-seema-verma-2021-1">had the scoop that the $200 drug discount cards Trump wanted to send to seniors is a no-go. </a></li></ul><p>Hope you all have a great weekend! I'll be back on Tuesday with more healthcare news ahead of inauguration day. Thoughts, questions, tips to tell me about in the meantime? You can find me at <a href="mailto:lramsey@businessinsider.com">lramsey@businessinsider.com</a>, and you can reach the entire healthcare team at <a href="mailto:healthcare@businessinsider.com">healthcare@businessinsider.com</a>. </p><p>- Lydia</p>

The winners and losers of a quiet JPMorgan week

<p><em>Welcome to </em><a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/dispensed-daily"><em>Business Insider</em></a><em>'</em><a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/dispensed-daily"><em>s daily healthcare newsletter</em></a><em>, your daily dose of pharma, biotech, and <keyword id="6354525" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="healthcare">healthcare</keyword> news. </em><a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/dispensed-daily"><em>Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday.</em></a></p><p>Hello, </p><p>Today in healthcare news: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-raises-500-million-series-b-develop-drugs-charge-less-2021-1">EQRx has raised another $500 million</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/half-covid-19-cases-spread-from-people-without-symptoms-2021-1">at least 50% of COVID-19 cases spread from people without symptoms</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/study-suggests-pfizer-vaccine-effective-against-covid-19-mutations-2021-1">some evidence that Pfizer's vaccine works against virus mutations</a>. </p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-raises-500-million-series-b-develop-drugs-charge-less-2021-1"><div type="image" title="medical medication medicine pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs pills vitamins cox prescription FDA over the counter OTC" height="1667" width="2223" msid="80217040" hostid="261"></div></a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-raises-500-million-series-b-develop-drugs-charge-less-2021-1">EQRx, a startup that's taking on Big Pharma by making drugs cheaper, just raised $500 million</a></h3><ul><li><keyword id="10579443" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="eqrx">EQRx</keyword>, a company developing new drugs that'll compete with some of the highest-priced drugs on the market at a lower price, is moving faster than it expected.</li><li>A year in, the startup just raised a fresh $500 million from investors including GV, Andreessen Horowitz, and Arch Venture Partners, as well as from private equity funds, health plans and health systems.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-raises-500-million-series-b-develop-drugs-charge-less-2021-1">It aims to get have its first treatment approved in the next "handful of years" and has brought on four cancer drugs that are in later stages of development. </a></li></ul><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-raises-500-million-series-b-develop-drugs-charge-less-2021-1">Read the full story here&gt;&gt;</a></p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/half-covid-19-cases-spread-from-people-without-symptoms-2021-1"><div type="image" title="london outdoor eating restaurant coronavirus" height="2853" width="3804" msid="80217042" hostid="261"></div></a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/half-covid-19-cases-spread-from-people-without-symptoms-2021-1">At least 50% of COVID-19 cases spread from people without symptoms, a new study found</a></h3><ul><li>At least 50% of new <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> cases are transmitted by people who don't show symptoms, according to a new study.</li><li>That includes people who never display symptoms and those whose symptoms hadn't started yet.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/half-covid-19-cases-spread-from-people-without-symptoms-2021-1">A study authors said findings underscore the need for people who feel healthy to follow public-health guidance on mask wearing and social distancing.</a></li></ul><p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/half-covid-19-cases-spread-from-people-without-symptoms-2021-1">Read the full story from Susie Neilson here&gt;&gt;</a></strong></p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/study-suggests-pfizer-vaccine-effective-against-covid-19-mutations-2021-1"><div type="image" title="GettyImages 1230473713" height="1666" width="2223" msid="80217045" hostid="261"></div></a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/study-suggests-pfizer-vaccine-effective-against-covid-19-mutations-2021-1">Early study suggests Pfizer's vaccine is effective against coronavirus mutations</a></h3><ul><li>A study by Pfizer and researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch indicates the company's COVID-19 <keyword id="24209" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="vaccine">vaccine</keyword> is effective against mutations of the coronavirus.</li><li>The study has not yet been peer-reviewed.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/study-suggests-pfizer-vaccine-effective-against-covid-19-mutations-2021-1">"So we've now tested 16 different mutations, and none of them have really had any significant impact. That's the good news," Phil Dormitzer, a scientist at Pfizer, said Thursday. "That doesn't mean that the 17th won't," he added.</a></li></ul><p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/study-suggests-pfizer-vaccine-effective-against-covid-19-mutations-2021-1">Read the full story from Charles Davis here&gt;&gt;</a></strong></p><p><strong>More stories we're reading: </strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/01/07/954409347/why-west-virginias-winning-the-race-to-get-covid-19-vaccine-into-arms">How West Virginia is winning the race to get COVID-19 vaccines into people's arms, including using its own pharmacies</a> (NPR)</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-release-all-available-coronavirus-vaccine-supply-doses-2021-1">Biden plans to release the entire coronavirus vaccine supply instead of reserving half to guarantee second doses</a> (Business Insider)</li><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/us/california-coronavirus.html">LA is facing its "New York Moment" as the virus overwhelms the largest county in the US</a> (The New York Times)</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pfizer-second-covid-vaccine-shot-side-effects-doctor-2021-1">I felt totally fine after my first COVID-19 shot, but the second dose was rough. Here's what I did to manage the side effects and why I still think you should get the shot.</a> (Business Insider)</li></ul><p>- Lydia</p>

A startup that's taking on Big Pharma just raised $500 million

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Meet EQRX, a company that's developing new drugs it plans to charge less for that'll compete for some of the highest priced drugs on the market. </li><li>The startup just raised $200 million from investors including GV, ARCH Venture Partners, and Andreessen Horowitz.</li><li>CEO Alexis Borisy told Business Insider he's aiming to get the startup's first drug approved in 5 years, with the goal of having 10 approved in the company's first decade. </li><li><a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/health-insider">Subscribe to Dispensed, Business Insider's weekly healthcare newsletter</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul><p>A new startup just launched that plans to take an unusual approach to the pharmaceutical industry.</p><p>EQRX wants to develop new drugs that work similarly to pills and infusions that are already on the market.</p><p>In the past, drugmakers that have taken EQRX's approach have been derided for manufacturing "me-too" treatments at high costs. But EQRX wants to make drugs that rival Big Pharma's costliest offerings, and then sell them at lower prices.</p><p>On Monday, the company said it had raised $200 million in a massive Series A funding round from backers like GV, Andreessen Horowitz, and ARCH Venture Partners.</p><p>New kinds of drug companies have cropped up to take on the high cost of treatments. For instance, a group of hospitals created a nonprofit generic drugmaker called Civica Rx, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/civicarx-adds-12-new-health-systems-to-nonprofit-generic-drug-business-2019-1">which has the goal of making generic drugs that are in shortage or have artificially high prices</a>. This month, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-could-be-1st-state-to-sell-own-prescription-drugs-2020-1">California governor Gavin Newsom debuted a proposal that could make California</a> the first state to sell its own prescription generic drugs. </p><p>EQRX's founders are big names in biotech: ex-Third Rock Ventures VC Alexis Borisy is serving as the company's CEO and chairman, and former Foundation Medicine chief business officer Melanie Nallicheri is coming in as EQRX's president and chief operating officer.</p>It's Borisy's first endeavor since leaving Third Rock this summer after a decade building and investing in biotech companies. <p>Dr. Peter Bach, director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and an outspoken critic of pharmaceutical drug prices is a cofounder and will serve as an advisor to the company.</p><p>Also advising is Dr. Sandra Horning, a former executive at Genentech who's also a cofounder.</p><p>The idea is to develop entirely new drugs that rival some of the highest-priced drugs in the world, get them approved, and charge much lower prices for them. </p><p>"I don't buy the argument that the pricing as we've seen it, that that needs to be the solution," Nallicheri told Business Insider. </p><h2>The approach</h2><p>Already, drugmakers develop their own drugs that work similarly to one another. For instance, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-approves-regeneron-and-sanofis-cancer-immunotherapy-libtayo-2018-9">there are six drugs that target the proteins PD-1 and PD-L1 </a>in the treatment of certain kinds of cancer.  Heart medicine Lipitor, which went on to be a blockbuster drug for Pfizer, was one of a number of drugs known as statins that worked in a similar way.</p><p>Typically, the drugs all come in around the same price as their competitors, drawing <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5659838/">criticism for driving up the cost of healthcare.</a></p><p>Instead, EQRX's plan - if it gets its drug approved - is to charge a fraction of the price of rivals.</p><p>It still wants to make a profit, in part by keeping the price of developing the new drug much lower with the help of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venture-capital-investors-healthcare-predictions-2020-2019-12#the-lux-partners-adam-goulburn-and-zavain-dar-expect-pharma-to-have-its-deepmind-moment-6">new technologies and processes</a>. </p><p>"If we achieve that, we should be able to charge a small fraction and still be as profitable as the businesses out there today," Borisy said. </p><p>EQRX will look to compete with high-priced drugs that are on the market or are expected to hit the market within the next five years in areas like oncology, immuno-inflammation, and genetic diseases. As part of that, Borisy said, it plans to strike up partnerships with health systems and other organizations who ultimately pay for prescription drugs. </p><p>When first starting the company, Nallicheri and Borisy reflected on their own experiences working within the drug industry. Both had experienced instances in which patients who needed the therapies the two had worked on weren't able to get access to them without assistance programs. </p><p>"What we're saying is, take an innovative novel cancer therapy, can that be priced differently, still reward innovation, but therefore become so much more accessible for patients?" Nallicheri said. </p><h2>Changing the drug industry's economics</h2><p>As it stands now, drugmakers have no restrictions on how high they set the price of a given drug. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/insulin-price-increased-last-decade-chart-2019-9">Prices often increase over time</a>, and even in markets where there are multiple drugs competing, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/price-of-multiple-sclerosis-drugs-quadrupled-over-a-decade-study-2019-8https://www.businessinsider.com/price-of-multiple-sclerosis-drugs-quadrupled-over-a-decade-study-2019-8">prices only seem to go up and up.</a></p><p>So why wouldn't a company - and its investors - expect to charge as much as the market can bear when developing a rival new drug? </p><p>"What we're proposing is really good business," Borisy said. "I think at the scale of what we do with our products, we think we can build a highly profitable, high revenue, high growth business based on what we're doing."</p><p>From an investor perspective, Andreessen Horowitz general partner Jorge Conde likens it to how Amazon charges a lower price and can still make money.</p><p>"A better process will give you a better product," he said. Ideally, Conde said, investors stand to make more if EQRX can reimagine the pharmaceutical market. </p><p>The promise of shifting the market was also attractive to GV, and made EQRX stand out compared to other biotechs the team has looked at.</p><p>"We're really interested in changing this part of the market," GV's Krishna Yeshwant said. </p><p>Yeshwant said that when investing he committed to devote 20% of his time to working with EQRX, including making introductions to hospitals and health insurers who might buy its drugs.</p><p>"It's been one of the great joys of 2019 to take someone like [Borisy] who's developed tens of drugs and walk him into the door of a provider or payor he's never met before," Yeshwant said.</p><h2>The timeline</h2><p>To pull off the economics - getting to a place where drug discovery, development, and commercialization can happen much more efficiently than it does today so EQRX can justify charging a cheaper price for them - EQRX will have to move quickly.</p><p>Borisy said he's aiming to get the startup's first drug approved in 5 years, with the goal of having 10 approved in the company's first decade with a dozen more in development.  In 15 years, ideally, EQRX will have dozens of drugs on the market, he said.</p><p>So far, Nallicheri said, the company has 16 employees. Their focus during the first year will be on identifying a half a dozen to a dozen targets to get started on. </p><p>It won't be easy, Conde said. </p><p>"It's a great example of a hallmark of good engineering," Conde said. "It's simple, but not easy, elegant but not obvious. That's what these guys are building."</p>

Meet EQRX, a startup that just raised $200 million to take on Big Pharma by making drugs cheaper

<p>Hello,</p><p>Welcome to <keyword id="11894896" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="insider-healthcare" source="Orion">Insider Healthcare</keyword>. I'm Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer, and I'm catching up after taking some time off to hike the <a href="https://twitter.com/lydiaramsey125/status/1430876547729149953">Grand Canyon</a> from rim to rim.</p><p>This week in <keyword id="11897506" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="healthcare" source="Orion">healthcare</keyword> news:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/analysis-upstart-insurers-alignment-bright-and-clover-are-employing-doctors-2021-7"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-gains-full-fda-approval-2021-8">The FDA approved Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine</a> - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/when-will-covid-pandemic-end-maybe-2023-2021-8">but the pandemic endgame isn't here yet</a>;</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/11-biotech-companies-primed-to-become-active-ma-acquirers-2021-8"></a>We've got interactive <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-massachusetts-new-york-map-top-states-biotech-incentives-2021-8">maps</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quiz-salaries-compensation-biotech-and-pharmaceutical-companies-2021-8">quizzes</a> that break down the <keyword id="11908912" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="biotech" source="Orion">biotech</keyword> industry;</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clinical-trials-have-a-diversity-problem-is-tech-the-solution-2021-8">Why experts think it'll take more than technology to diversify clinical trials</a>. </li></ul><p>If you're new to this newsletter, <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/insider-healthcare">sign up here.</a> Tips, comments? Email me at <a href="mailto:lramsey@insider.com">lramsey@insider.com</a> or tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/lydiaramsey125">@lydiaramsey125</a>. Let's get to it...</p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/when-will-covid-pandemic-end-maybe-2023-2021-8"></a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-gains-full-fda-approval-2021-8">The first FDA-approved coronavirus vaccine is here</a></h3><p><keyword id="11897118" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="pfizer" source="Orion">Pfizer</keyword> and BioNTech on Monday got the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-gains-full-fda-approval-2021-8">first FDA approval for a COVID-19 shot</a>. </p><p>Moderna and J&amp;J have coronavirus <keyword id="11907020" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="vaccines" source="Orion">vaccines</keyword> that have gotten clearance via Emergency Use Authorization. </p><p>The hope is now that the Pfizer-BioNTech shot is officially approved, it could convince more people who have been on the fence to go out and get immunized. </p><p>...and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pfizer-vaccine-name-comirnaty-explained-mashup-community-immunity-mrna-covid-2021-8">its name - Comirnaty - is really something</a>. </p><p>The busy week didn't end there for Pfizer - on Thursday, the pharma giant said <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pfizer-hires-mckinsey-aamir-malik-make-deals-ceo-bourla-interview-2021-8">it hired longtime McKinsey leader Aamir Malik as its chief business-innovation officer</a>.</p><p>Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told Andrew Dunn that Malik will help shape Pfizer, in part by evaluating deals. </p><p>Bourla also talked with Andrew about his expectations for booster shots. </p><p>As coronavirus cases continue to rise across the US, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pfizer-ceo-albert-bourla-predicts-annual-covid-19-boosters-shots-2021-8">Bourla sees COVID-19 booster shots becoming annual occurrences, much like how we administer flu shots. </a></p><p>It's a sign we'll be confronting COVID-19 for years to come. </p><p>The hope of vaccinating enough people to halt the spread of the virus hasn't happened yet.</p><p>But should more people get vaccinated, Hilary Brueck reports, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/when-will-covid-pandemic-end-maybe-2023-2021-8">by 2023 life may start to feel better</a>. </p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/when-will-covid-pandemic-end-maybe-2023-2021-8">Check it out&gt;&gt;</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/when-will-covid-pandemic-end-maybe-2023-2021-8">The pandemic endgame isn't here yet. But if we play our cards right, things will start getting better in 2023.</a></h3><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quiz-salaries-compensation-biotech-and-pharmaceutical-companies-2021-8"><div type="image" title="Stephane Bance, CEO of Moderna, Leonard Schleifer, founder and chief executive of the biotechnology company Regeneron, and Stanley Erck, CEO of Novavax on an orange background surrounded by purple question marks and dollar signs." height="1875" width="2501" msid="85687856" hostid="261"></div></a></p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quiz-salaries-compensation-biotech-and-pharmaceutical-companies-2021-8">How well do you know biotech compensation?</a></h3><p>Next this week, we have a new type of story for you: a quiz!</p><p>As part of our <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biotech-pharma-industry-compensation-employee-growth-analysis">deep-dive into compensation in the biotech and pharmaceutical industr</a>y, Andrew and Allison DeAngelis <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quiz-salaries-compensation-biotech-and-pharmaceutical-companies-2021-8">created a quiz to test your knowledge. </a></p><p>In the quiz, you can match compensations to CEOs, see what percentage of women are leading top drugmakers, and more. </p><p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quiz-salaries-compensation-biotech-and-pharmaceutical-companies-2021-8">Take the quiz&gt;&gt;</a></strong></p><p>If you're looking for more interactive stories to end your week, check out this map Jade Khatib and our graphics team put together about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-massachusetts-new-york-map-top-states-biotech-incentives-2021-8">where biotech companies are clustered around the US</a> - and what incentives states use to get them there. </p><p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-massachusetts-new-york-map-top-states-biotech-incentives-2021-8">Check out the map here&gt;&gt;</a></strong></p><p>Finally, Jade compiled the salaries employees at biotech companies are making in roles like research scientist, engineer, and more. </p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biotech-pharmaceutical-salaries-engineering-scientists-data-lilly-pfizer-novartis-moderna-2021-8">Find out more&gt;&gt;</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biotech-pharmaceutical-salaries-engineering-scientists-data-lilly-pfizer-novartis-moderna-2021-8">Biopharma salaries revealed: How much companies like Novartis, Pfizer, Johnson &amp; Johnson, and Moderna pay scientists, engineers, doctors, and lawyers</a></h3><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clinical-trials-have-a-diversity-problem-is-tech-the-solution-2021-8"><div type="image" title="Moderna vaccine" height="1333" width="1778" msid="85687857" hostid="261"></div></a></p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clinical-trials-have-a-diversity-problem-is-tech-the-solution-2021-8">It'll take more than tech to diversify research</a></h3><p>This week, Mohana Ravindranath took a look at whether startups that are trying to make clinical trials more representative of the populations they're aiming to treat - with the help of technology - are actually getting to the root of the problem.</p><p>The experts Mohana spoke to were skeptical, pointing to more systemic issues getting in the way that tech might not be able to fix. </p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clinical-trials-have-a-diversity-problem-is-tech-the-solution-2021-8">Get the full story&gt;&gt;</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clinical-trials-have-a-diversity-problem-is-tech-the-solution-2021-8">Tech startups are raising millions to diversify clinical trials. But experts say the problem runs deeper than technology.</a></h3><p><strong>More stories that kept us busy this week:</strong></p><ul><li>Andrew took a closer look at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-biotech-interviews-drug-pricing-approach-spac-controversy-2021-8">buzzy startup EQRx's plans to undercut Big Pharma with cheaper drugs. Skeptics are questioning whether EQRx is just hype.</a></li><li>Allison reports that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mits-david-sabatini-on-leave-following-sexual-harassment-investigation-2021-8">a top MIT professor and biotech founder has been placed on leave following a sexual harassment investigation.</a></li><li>We got more evidence that a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-booster-shot-jj-johnson-second-vaccine-dose-antibody-2021-8">booster shot of J&amp;J's coronavirus vaccine may raise antibody levels</a>.</li></ul><p>- Lydia</p>

Why experts think life will get better by 2023 - if enough people get vaccinated

<p>Hello, </p><p>Welcome to Insider <keyword id="11897506" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="healthcare" source="Orion">Healthcare</keyword>. I'm healthcare editor Leah Rosenbaum, and this week in healthcare news:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/highmark-health-and-verily-are-transforming-how-doctors-provide-care-2021-10">We quizzed leaders about the future of </a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/highmark-health-and-verily-are-transforming-how-doctors-provide-care-2021-10"> healthcare and biotech</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/highmark-health-and-verily-are-transforming-how-doctors-provide-care-2021-10"> at last week's HLTH conference</a>;</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-vcs-sound-off-tech-money-startups-hlth-2021-10">Institutional healthcare investors are wary about the rise of tech investors in the biotech space</a>;</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-panel-backs-pfizers-covid-19-shot-for-kids-ages-5-11-2021-10">A COVID-19 vaccine for kids could be authorized by the FDA any day now</a>. </li></ul><p>If you're new to this <keyword id="11894123" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="newsletter" source="Orion">newsletter</keyword>, <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/insider-healthcare">sign up here.</a> Comments, tips? Email me at <a href="mailto:lrosenbaum@insider.com">lrosenbaum@insider.com</a> or tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/leah_rosenbaum">@leah_rosenbaum.</a> Let's get to it...</p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/highmark-health-and-verily-are-transforming-how-doctors-provide-care-2021-10"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/highmark-health-and-verily-are-transforming-how-doctors-provide-care-2021-10">Leaders share what's in store for the industry</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/highmark-health-and-verily-are-transforming-how-doctors-provide-care-2021-10"></a></h3><p>Though the 2021 HLTH conference ended last week, our reporters are still bringing you news and interviews from those days in Boston.</p><p>This week, reporters Mohana Ravindranath and Shelby Livingston wrote about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/highmark-health-and-verily-are-transforming-how-doctors-provide-care-2021-10">a new partnership</a> between Highmark Health, an $18 billion healthcare system, and Verily. The two giant companies are partnering in an effort to increase value-based care. </p><p>Meanwhile reporter Andrew Dunn wrote about his interviews with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-eqrxs-alexis-borisy-is-challenging-us-drug-pricing-2021-10">biotech entrepreneur Alexis Borisy</a>, and why EQRx is Borisy's biggest venture yet.</p><p>Andrew also spoke to chief Regeneron scientist George Yancopoulos, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/regenerons-yancopoulos-on-crispr-gene-editing-challenges-2021-10">who had some advice</a> for all the CRISPR-based gene editing companies out there. </p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/highmark-health-and-verily-are-transforming-how-doctors-provide-care-2021-10">See all the coverage&gt;&gt; </a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/highmark-health-and-verily-are-transforming-how-doctors-provide-care-2021-10">The CEO of an $18 billion health system shared how it's partnering with Verily to transform the way doctors provide care</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-vcs-sound-off-tech-money-startups-hlth-2021-10https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-vcs-sound-off-tech-money-startups-hlth-2021-10"><div type="image" title="One zebra figurine is pictured among 15 surrounding tiger figurines" height="1864" width="2485" msid="87369148" hostid="261"></div></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-vcs-sound-off-tech-money-startups-hlth-2021-10">What healthcare investors worry about</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-vcs-sound-off-tech-money-startups-hlth-2021-10https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-vcs-sound-off-tech-money-startups-hlth-2021-10"></a></h3><p>Also at HLTH, reporter Megan Hernbroth spoke to institutional healthcare investors who <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-vcs-sound-off-tech-money-startups-hlth-2021-10">said they were worried</a> about the sudden increase of cash in the space from tech investors like Tiger Global Management.</p><p>They say that these massive influxes of cash are partially responsible for pushing company valuations to astronomically high levels. </p><p>Our reporters noted other new investment news this week. Mohana wrote about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cityblock-unite-us-share-how-they-raised-money-for-medicaid-startups-2021-10">why investors seem to be interested in Cityblock</a>, even though it's a startup in the traditionally underfunded Medicaid sector. </p><p>And Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer and Blake Dodge reported on a startup geared towards <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jack-stoddard-patina-health-raises-57-million-from-a16z-gv-2021-10">improving healthcare for older adults</a>.</p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-vcs-sound-off-tech-money-startups-hlth-2021-10">Check it out now&gt;&gt;</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-vcs-sound-off-tech-money-startups-hlth-2021-10">Here's why longtime healthcare investors urge caution against the influx of funding from tech firms like Tiger Global Management</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-panel-backs-pfizers-covid-19-shot-for-kids-ages-5-11-2021-10"><div type="image" title="A group of kids wearing masks and backpacks walk toward their classrooms." height="2800" width="3733" msid="87369150" hostid="261"></div></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-panel-backs-pfizers-covid-19-shot-for-kids-ages-5-11-2021-10">A COVID-19 vaccine for kids could be authorized any day now</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-panel-backs-pfizers-covid-19-shot-for-kids-ages-5-11-2021-10"></a></h3><p>This week, Andrew reported that an FDA advisory panel voted to recommend that the agency <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-panel-backs-pfizers-covid-19-shot-for-kids-ages-5-11-2021-10">authorize a lower-dose version of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for kids aged 5 to 11 years old.</a> While the FDA doesn't have to agree with its expert panel, the agency usually does.</p><p>That means vaccines for young kids could be coming any day, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-to-know-covid-vaccine-kids-5-to-11-2021-10">accompanied by a more kid-friendly needle</a>, according to science editor Erin Schumaker. </p><p>In more encouraging <keyword id="11893994" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19" source="Orion">COVID-19</keyword> news, a large study just found that a cheap and common antidepressant called fluvoxamine <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/common-antidepressant-lowers-covid-hospitalization-risk-study-suggests-2021-10">lowers the risk of hospitalization from COVID-19</a> in high-risk patients, Erin Snodgrass wrote. </p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-panel-backs-pfizers-covid-19-shot-for-kids-ages-5-11-2021-10">Read more&gt;&gt;</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-panel-backs-pfizers-covid-19-shot-for-kids-ages-5-11-2021-10">The FDA's expert panel just gave a thumbs-up for Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in younger children, clearing the path for authorization in a matter of days</a></h3><p><strong>More stories that kept us busy this week: </strong></p><ul><li>Shelby found out that a coalition of huge companies, including Boeing and Walmart, are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/purchaser-business-group-on-health-launches-pharmacy-benefit-manager-2021-10">pushing back against drug-industry middlemen. </a></li><li>Dr. Catherine Schuster-Bruce wrote that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-alexa-hospitals-echo-next-to-us-hospital-bed-2021-10">Amazon is putting Alexa devices next to hospital beds</a> in the US in an effort to boost productivity. </li><li>Catherine also found out that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sexually-transmitted-disease-std-covid-19-made-worse-experts-2021-10">sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise</a>, and COVID-19 is making things even worse. </li><li>Anna Medaris Miller covered a first-of-its kind <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trial-begins-first-breast-cancer-vaccine-cleveland-clinic-2021-10">vaccine for breast cancer</a> that's headed to human trials. </li><li>Hilary Brueck wrote about the potential for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-19-nasal-vaccines-could-end-the-pandemic-early-stage-2021-10">nasal COVID-19 vaccines</a>, which are still quite a long ways off. </li></ul><p>-Leah</p>

What healthcare investors worry about

<p>Hello,</p><p>Welcome to our annual post-<a href="https://www.jpmorgan.com/global/healthcare-conference">J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference</a> edition of Dispensed, which is coming to you from a coffee shop in LA. I can use all the caffeine I can get after this week, and I'm looking forward to spending the weekend exploring the city and soaking up as much sun as I can before getting back to NYC next week.</p><p>I'm feeling so grateful for all the folks I got a chance to catch up with, all the new introductions, colleagues willing to get drinks at 4 p.m. so I can do happy hour and catch a flight, and all the story ideas that'll keep me busy for at least part of 2020! Until next year, San Francisco.</p><p><em><strong>Are you new to the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/dispensed">newsletter</a>? <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/health-insider">You can sign up here. </a></strong></em></p><p>Last week, I mentioned we'd be spending our week in San Francisco running around the conference. It was my fifth time, and the first time I can remember that came and went without any ground-shaking news. Based on the conversations I had around the conference seems to be connected to the elephant in the room: the upcoming 2020 presidential election. </p><p>While the election is still months and months away, the sense I got was it's a good time to be as measured as possible, rather than dream up new acquisitions or business strategies. Curious to hear if you all got the same vibe - ping me at lramsey@businessinsider.com with your thoughts. </p><p>Which isn't to say there wasn't anything to follow along with coming out of the conference. Here's what you might've missed over the week. </p><p>First, Verily made waves in its presentation Monday (<a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/01/16/verily-dexcom-tango-at-jpm-over-new-glucose-monitor/">and ruffled some partners' feathers</a>). I have the play-by-play.</p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/verily-ceo-andy-conrad-jpmorgan-presentation-to-investors-2020-1">Verily just presented for the first time at JPMorgan's big health conference. Here's how the CEO of Alphabet's life sciences firm laid out the unusual business to top investors.</a></h3><ul><li>Verily has its hands in projects spanning robotics, blood-sugar-tracking devices, and work on addiction treatment.</li><li>In its presentation, it laid out its three businesses and how the company approaches partnerships.</li><li>The company has taken $1.8 billion in outside investments from investors including Temasek, Silver Lake, Capital Group, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, and T. Rowe Price. In 2019, it raised a $1 billion round from Silver Lake. </li><li>Conrad also spoke about the company's new hires, including former Tesla chief financial officer Deepak Ahuja, who took Tesla public.</li></ul><p>I mentioned I'd be tuning in to both Verily's presentation and Oscar Health's. During his presentation, CEO Mario Schlosser made an interesting comment about where he sees the employer-funded (aka a prevailing way Americans get their healthcare coverage) market going. </p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/zachary-tracer">Zach Tracer</a> and I followed up with him about it in an interview Tuesday. Here's what he told us. </p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oscar-health-ceo-mario-schlosser-on-2020-future-of-healthcare-2020-1">Buzzy health startup Oscar is making a big bet on a crucial change to how you get your healthcare. The CEO shared how he thinks that will happen.</a></h3><ul><li>Oscar Health CEO Mario Schlosser thinks a big shift is coming in how Americans get their health insurance.</li><li>Schlosser thinks that over time, fewer people will get their health insurance through their jobs.</li><li>"I do think this will over time lead to a gradual then sudden disappearance of the employer market," Schlosser said on Monday.</li></ul><p>To kick off the week, we covered the ambitions of EQRx, a startup founded by former Third Rock Ventures VC Alexis Borisy and Foundation Medicine chief business officer Melanie Nallicheri, raising from investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Arch Venture Partners, and GV. </p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-drug-company-startup-developing-drugs-plans-to-charge-less-2020-1">Meet EQRx, a startup that just raised $200 million to take on Big Pharma by making drugs cheaper</a></h3><h3>What else transpired at the conference</h3><p>Stocks predictably soared and dropped based off good and bad news. Notably, Adaptimmune's <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/adaptimmune-stock-price-soars-positive-results-tumor-indicators-biopharmaceutical-cancer-2020-1-1028813856">cancer data sent the stock up 330%,</a> while billionaire doctor<a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/01/08/patrick-soon-shiong-2020-cancer-moonshot/"> Patrick Soon-Shiong's</a>cancer drugmaker <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-13/nantkwest-gains-after-ceo-says-cancer-drug-produced-early-result">NantKwest's stock soared 92% on an interview</a> he gave where he mentioned that exactly one person treated with the company's drug was in remission. </p><p>Deals (albeit, smaller in scale) were struck, with telemedicine company Teladoc <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-12/teladoc-to-buy-intouch-for-600-million-in-telemedicine-bet">buying InTouch Health for $600 million,</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/big-topics-in-pharma-2017-1">Neon Therapeutics</a> selling to <a href="https://ir.neontherapeutics.com/news-releases/news-release-details/biontech-acquire-neon-strengthen-global-leadership-position-t">German biotech BioNTech,</a> and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/upmc-plans-800-million-investment-in-life-sciences-11579045984">Pittsburgh-based health system UPMC raising an $800 million fund to invest in life sciences</a>.</p><p>We also got updates on company strategies. That includes the potential for the newest most expensive drug in the world, as BioMarin anticipates pricing its gene therapy for the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/biomarin-explores-pricing-experimental-gene-therapy-at-2-million-to-3-million-11579190318">blood disorder hemophilia between $2 million and $3 million,</a> per the Wall Street Journal. Right now, the most expensive drug in the world carries a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/health-insurance-companies-deny-kids-with-sma-gene-therapy-zolgensma-2019-7">price tag of $2.1 million.</a> There was also news of a partnership between digital health company <a href="https://www2.livongo.com/news/livongo-and-dexcom-partner-to-integrate-dexcoms-g6-continuous-glucose/">Livongo and Dexcom</a>. </p><p>More to come as I sort through my notes from our various encounters around Union Square. </p><p>Also - if you're interested in clean energy, my colleague Benji Jones just launched his own weekly newsletter, Power Line! <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/power-line">You can subscribe here</a>. </p><p>(Finally, please send me your LA weekend eats recommendations!) </p><p>- Lydia </p><p class="tagline"><a href="/intelligence/digital-health?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_subscription&amp;itm_content=health&amp;itm_campaign=digital-health"></a></p><p>Featured Digital Health Articles:<br />- <a href="/telehealth-industry-explained">Telehealth Industry: Benefits, Services &amp; Examples</a><br />- <a href="/value-based-care-pay-for-performance-healthcare-model">Value-Based Care Model: Pay-for-Performance Healthcare</a><br />- <a href="/senior-care-market-trends">Senior Care &amp; Assisted Living Market Trends</a><br />- <a href="/wearable-technology-healthcare-medical-devices">Smart Medical Devices: Wearable Tech in Healthcare</a><br />- <a href="/artificial-intelligence-healthcare">AI in Healthcare</a><br />- <a href="/remote-patient-monitoring-industry-explained">Remote Patient Monitoring Industry: Devices &amp; Market Trends</a></p>

Dispensed: Verily's big debut, Oscar's health insurance bet, and what else you missed at the biggest healthcare conference of the year

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Loxo Oncology CEO Josh Bilenker sold his company to pharma giant Eli Lilly in January 2019 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-story-eli-lilly-8-billion-acquisition-of-loxo-oncology-2019-1">in an $8 billion deal that came together in just 18 days. </a></li><li>A year later, Bilenker is still with Lilly, serving as the company's head of oncology research under the Loxo Oncology name. </li><li>"I think founders, if they care about the medicines they help create, should care about seeing them approved and launched," Bilenker said</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul><p>It's been a year since Loxo Oncology sold itself to Eli Lilly for $8 billion, after a whirlwind 18-day sale process.</p><p>And in an unusual turn, Loxo CEO Josh Bilenker is still with the company. </p><p>It's not uncommon for biotechs to be acquired and absorbed into the development pipelines of larger pharmaceutical companies, at which point the executive teams depart to join other endeavors.</p><p><em><strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-story-eli-lilly-8-billion-acquisition-of-loxo-oncology-2019-1">The inside story of Eli Lilly's 18-day race to secure an $8 billion deal in time for the 'Super Bowl' of healthcare</a></em></p><p>But in the case of Loxo, Bilenker, along with Jake Van Naarden, Loxo's chief business officer and Nisha Nanda, Loxo's chief development officer, have stayed on to lead the business unit.</p><p>As of January, <a href="https://investor.lilly.com/news-releases/news-release-details/lilly-announces-new-leadership-and-strategy-oncology-research">the organization has combined with Lilly Research Laboratories cancer research</a> to create a company-within-a-company model. When the drugs are ready to launch, their responsibility will transfer to Anne White, who leads the oncology business unit at Lilly. </p><p>"I think founders, if they care about the medicines they help create, should care about seeing them approved and launched," Bilenker told Business Insider on the sidelines of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/jpm20">J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference</a> in San Francisco. "There are a lot of examples in our industry where people wipe their hands the minute the deal closes."</p><p><em><strong>Never miss out on healthcare news. <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/health-insider">Subscribe to Dispensed,</a> our weekly newsletter on pharma, biotech, and healthcare.</strong></em></p><p>When that happens, he said, during the hand-off there's room for error, and a lot of the oral history around how the drug's been developed gets lost.</p><p>"That hurts the medicine," he said. "It shouldn't happen. If you're a team, you're committed to seeing that through."</p><p>Loxo was founded in 2013 by Bilenker, a former medical officer at the FDA. The company's taken the approach of developing drugs that act on cancerous genetic mutations rather than focusing on the type of cancer a person has. </p><p>The FDA approved its first drug, Vitrakvi, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-approves-loxo-oncologys-larotrectinib-vitrakvi-2018-11">in 2018 not by tumor type, but rather by the genetic mutation the drug targets</a>. Bayer has full rights to the drug, but Loxo has others in development including selpercatinib, a drug that targets mutations in the RET gene found in some non-small-cell lung cancer patients and in some thyroid cancer patients. </p><p>"It was always very clear that they were going to make sure that Selpercatinib was successful," White said. "And I was very impressed by that."</p><ul class="read-more-links"><li><strong>Read more:</strong></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oscar-health-ceo-mario-schlosser-on-2020-future-of-healthcare-2020-1">Buzzy health startup Oscar is making a big bet on a crucial change to how you get your healthcare. The CEO shared how he thinks that will happen.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/verily-ceo-andy-conrad-jpmorgan-presentation-to-investors-2020-1">Verily just presented for the first time at JPMorgan's big health conference. Here's how the CEO of Alphabet's life sciences firm laid out the unusual business to top investors.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-drug-company-startup-developing-drugs-plans-to-charge-less-2020-1">Meet EQRx, a startup that just raised $200 million to take on Big Pharma by making drugs cheaper</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bright-health-buys-brand-new-day-in-medicare-advantage-2020-1">$2.2 billion Bright Health just struck a deal to buy a health plan and gain a big foothold in the lucrative Medicare Advantage market</a></li></ul>

The man who founded a biotech that got sold to Eli Lilly for $8 billion reveals why he's staying on at the pharma giant

<p class="source"><span>Moderna</span></p><p class="caption">Andreessen Horowitz's new fund will pursue opportunities in the life sciences and healthcare technology, along with some that go beyond human health.</p><ul class="summary-list"><li>The venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz launched a $750 million fund focused on biology, its third "bio fund" since 2015.</li><li>The firm has recently added two additional general partners to make investments for the bio fund: Julie Yoo and Vineeta Agarwala.</li><li>At $750 million, the third fund is bigger than the first two combined. All of the funds are focused on companies at the intersection of technology, healthcare and biopharma. </li><li>The new fund will pursue opportunities in the life sciences and healthcare technology, along with some that go beyond human health, Andreessen Horowitz general partner Jorge Conde told Business Insider.</li><li>Conde said the fund will also consider companies bringing biology into other industries, such as agriculture, textiles, and manufacturing.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a><strong>.</strong></li></ul><p>Andreessen Horowitz just raised a massive fund to make big bets on the future of biology.</p><p>The VC firm announced on Tuesday that it had raised a $750 million fund focused on biology, its third "bio fund" since 2015.</p><p>The Silicon Valley venture capital firm is best known for its technology investments, including early bets on Facebook, Instagram, Lyft, and Slack, among others.</p><p>Starting in 2015, it began building its presence in healthcare and biotech with a $200 million fund. Two years later, the VC group raised a <a href="https://a16z.com/2017/12/14/second-bio-fund/">second bio fund worth $450 million</a>. Now, Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z, is going in again.</p><p>Along with the fund's size, which is more than the previous two funds combined, the company has hired two more general partners to help run the fund. Julie Yoo, who joined in October, was previously a co-founder and executive at Kyruus, a healthcare startup, and Vineeta Agarwala joined from GV's life sciences team. </p><p class="source"><span>Andreessen Horowitz</span></p><p class="caption">Julie Yoo, Andreessen Horowitz</p><p><em><strong>Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andreessen-horowitz-vc-julie-yoo-healthcare-predictions-for-2020-2019-12">A top investor at Andreessen Horowitz shares why she's betting Big Pharma firms will have to make a big change to how they do business in 2020</a></strong></em></p><p>The initial duo of general partners, Jorge Conde and Vijay Pande, spoke with Business Insider ahead of the third fund's announcement. Here's what they had to say about their investing priorities and what's driving their excitement about biotech.</p><h2>The fund will focus on life sciences, healthcare, and beyond</h2><p>As the funds have grown in size, so have their ambitions. </p><p>Andreessen Horowitz's investing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vijay-pande-a16z-on-the-future-of-tech-and-healthcare-2016-11">premise when entering the space in 2015</a> was expecting the convergence of the technology, biopharma and healthcare industries.</p><p>"As that happens, we think there are going to be some very large and important companies that are created at these intersections," Conde said. </p><p class="source"><span>Andreessen Horowitz</span></p><p class="caption">Andreessen Horowitz general partner Jorge Conde</p><p>Alongside that development, the two general partners have also seen rapid gains in the understanding of biology that have made biotech and drug research a more interesting space. They pointed to the recent progress of cell therapies and gene editing. </p><p>"The fact that biology can now be engineered is a fundamental shift," Pande said. "We've moved from discovery to design."</p><p>The third fund will target life sciences and healthcare technology companies like the first two, Conde said, but it will also consider making investments in companies using biology beyond the healthcare industry.</p><p>"If engineered biology is going to have an impact on human health, it's also going to have a huge impact across a range of industries," Conde said. "Industries like agriculture, food, textiles, and even manufacturing broadly - we're seeing activity in all of those spaces."</p><h2>The most exciting biotech spaces are modular platforms, a16z says</h2><p>Within biotech, both partners expressed a particular interest in platforms that can be applied to develop treatments for a wide range of diseases. </p><p>"The biggest, most exciting areas in biopharma right now are things like CAR-T and in-vivo CRISPR," Pande said, referencing platforms for cell therapy and for gene editing. </p><p class="source"><span>Andreessen Horowitz</span></p><p class="caption">Vjiay Pande, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz</p><p>These new platforms have brought an engineering mentality into the lab, he said. That is a "fundamentally different" approach than traditional drug discovery, where if a molecule doesn't work it can't be easily fixed.  </p><p>While future generations of these technologies will continue to improve, the fund is also open to exploring new therapeutic platforms and identifying when they can jump from concept to business.</p><p>At its core, a16z is seeking investments in companies applying the principles and processes of the technology and software space to biology.</p><p>"People can claim this is tech or this is engineering … That doesn't make it engineering," Pande said. "A lot of the expertise we bring is identifying whether this has made the shift from science to engineering, and whether this is ready to become a tech company."</p><p>While an exciting and fast-moving space, that can also bring risk. Andreessen Horowitz knows that firsthand - the firm invested in the seed round of uBiome, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ubiome-poop-testing-startup-inside-story-what-happened-timeline-2019-5">a healthcare startup that went bankrupt in October</a>.</p><p>When asked about lessons learned from that investment, Pande said that deal predates the four partners on the biofund team.</p><p>He did acknowledge the importance of deep expertise instead of being a generalist investor, which he said the firm has with the range of backgrounds and experiences among the bio fund's growing team.</p><p><em><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-drug-company-startup-developing-drugs-plans-to-charge-less-2020-1">Meet EQRx, a startup that just raised $200 million to take on Big Pharma by making drugs cheaper</a></strong></em></p>   <p class="tagline"><a href="/intelligence/digital-health?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_subscription&amp;itm_content=health&amp;itm_campaign=digital-health"></a></p><p>Featured Digital Health Articles:<br />- <a href="/telehealth-industry-explained">Telehealth Industry: Benefits, Services &amp; Examples</a><br />- <a href="/value-based-care-pay-for-performance-healthcare-model">Value-Based Care Model: Pay-for-Performance Healthcare</a><br />- <a href="/senior-care-market-trends">Senior Care &amp; Assisted Living Market Trends</a><br />- <a href="/wearable-technology-healthcare-medical-devices">Smart Medical Devices: Wearable Tech in Healthcare</a><br />- <a href="/artificial-intelligence-healthcare">AI in Healthcare</a><br />- <a href="/remote-patient-monitoring-industry-explained">Remote Patient Monitoring Industry: Devices &amp; Market Trends</a></p>            <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/puffer-fish-are-not-filled-with-air-2019-11">What's inside a puffer fish</a></h3>

Andreessen Horowitz just launched its biggest biology-focused fund yet. 2 of the firm's general partners told us how they plan to invest the $750 million.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Oscar Health CEO Mario Schlosser thinks a big shift is coming in how Americans get their health insurance.</li><li>Schlosser thinks that over time, fewer people will get their health insurance through their jobs. </li><li>"I do think this will over time lead to a gradual then sudden disappearance of the employer market," Schlosser said during a presentation Monday <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/jpm20">at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.</a></li><li>Oscar currently sells insurance on the individual exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act, to small businesses, and to seniors via Medicare Advantage plans. The company on Monday announced a partnership with Cigna to expand small-business insurance sales.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul><p>Oscar Health CEO Mario Schlosser is keeping an eye out for a fundamental change in how Americans get healthcare. </p><p>For many Americans, their employers are the ones picking up the tab for their healthcare. More <a href="http://files.kff.org/attachment/Summary-of-Findings-Employer-Health-Benefits-2017">than half of the non-elderly</a> population is covered by an employer-sponsored healthcare plan. Schlosser said he thinks that's not always going to be the case. </p><p>"I do think this will over time lead to a gradual then sudden disappearance of the employer market," Schlosser said during a presentation Monday at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.</p><p>He pointed to the introduction of the <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/ichra/">Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement</a> that allows employers to provide workers with pre-tax dollars they can use to go out and buy health plans on the individual exchanges or Medicare, rather than paying for group health plans. </p><p><em><strong>Never miss out on healthcare news. <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/health-insider">Subscribe to Dispensed</a>, our weekly newsletter on pharma, biotech, and healthcare.</strong></em></p><h2>Unraveling employer-provided health insurance</h2><p>Ideally, that could increase the number of people buying health insurance on the ACA's markets, making plans more affordable, he said. But it'll take some initial employers to pave the way and convince other companies that it's a feasible way to provide health coverage, he said. </p><p>"There's just so little logic for employers to be in the insurance markets that they've been in for the last 80 years," Schlosser told Business Insider in an interview on the sidelines of the conference. "That logic's going to eventually unravel."</p><p>Changing the way Americans get their healthcare isn't an easy task, even as employers are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kff-report-employer-premiums-and-deductibles-are-on-the-rise-2019-9">spending more on health insurance premiums than ever</a>. Companies are reluctant to make big changes to the insurance that they give their workers.</p><p>"I think there's a system in place that employs millions of people, that for millions of people works really well. That's the employer-funded healthcare system." Progyny CEO David Schlanger, whose company works with self-insured employers to provide fertility benefits, told Business Insider.</p><h2>Oscar expanded significantly for 2020</h2><p>Oscar sells insurance on the individual exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act, to small businesses, and to seniors throgh Medicare Advantage plans. The company had 235,371 members as of September 30, slightly more than <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oscar-health-q3-results-after-alphabet-google-investment-2018-11">the company had in 2018.</a></p><p>In 2020, the company expects to have 400,000 members and make $2 billion in gross premium revenue, Schlosser told investors on Monday. </p><p>That's in part because of the new markets it's entered in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oscar-health-q3-results-after-alphabet-google-investment-2018-11">in 2020</a>, offering private Medicare Advantage plans to seniors in New York and Houston. The company's also selling <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oscar-health-to-sell-obamacare-plans-in-12-new-markets-for-2020-2019-8">Obamacare plans in 12 new markets for this year, including in four new states. </a></p><p><em><strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oscar-health-medicare-advantage-plans-for-2020-houston-new-york-2019-7">$3.2 billion health-insurance startup Oscar Health just revealed plans to offer a new kind of coverage in 2 cities</a></em></p><p>Oscar has raised more than $1 billion from investors enticed by its promise of a new tech-driven approach to health insurance. In August 2018 it raised $375 million from Google's parent company, Alphabet.</p><h2>Oscar's health plan collaboration with Cigna</h2><p>During the presentation, Schlosser said that Oscar and health insurer Cigna would be joining forces to offer health plans to small businesses. The companies plan to identify four markets to enter by the end of 2020. </p><p>"This will let us go faster to more markets," Schlosser said.</p><p>He cited issues Oscar's had in the past in the small-employer market, such as challenges building networks of doctors and hospitals. For instance, if an employer based in New York had a few employees who lived in Connecticut, where Oscar doesn't have a network, it couldn't offer the plan to those employeess.</p><p>Eventually, the plan is to use the relationship with Cigna to offer small business coverage nationally, Schlosser said</p><p>"I think we can become one of the dominant small group players," he said. </p><p>The Cigna partnership helps demonstrate that Oscar's tech is  modular enough that the company might be able to sell parts of it to different users, Schlosser said.</p><p>"We're still building all this stuff for ourselves," Schlosser said. "The first client is still Oscar."</p><p>For Cigna, working with Oscar helps the insurance giant sell to small companies with fewer than 50 employees. Cigna hadn't previously targeted those companies, an executive said.</p><p>"What this does is bring a fully insured choice to that 1 to 50 small group marketplace," Julie McCarter, vice president of product solutions at Cigna, told Business Insider. </p><ul class="read-more-links"><li><strong>Read more:</strong></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/verily-ceo-andy-conrad-jpmorgan-presentation-to-investors-2020-1">Verily just presented for the first time at JPMorgan's big health conference. Here's how the CEO of Alphabet's life sciences firm laid out the unusual business to top investors.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-drug-company-startup-developing-drugs-plans-to-charge-less-2020-1">Meet EQRx, a startup that just raised $200 million to take on Big Pharma by making drugs cheaper</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andreessen-horowitz-vc-julie-yoo-healthcare-predictions-for-2020-2019-12">A top investor at Andreessen Horowitz shares why she's betting Big Pharma firms will have to make a big change to how they do business in 2020</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bright-health-buys-brand-new-day-in-medicare-advantage-2020-1">$2.2 billion Bright Health just struck a deal to buy a health plan and gain a big foothold in the lucrative Medicare Advantage market</a></li></ul><p class="tagline"><a href="/intelligence/digital-health?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_subscription&amp;itm_content=health&amp;itm_campaign=digital-health"></a></p><p>Featured Digital Health Articles:<br />- <a href="/telehealth-industry-explained">Telehealth Industry: Benefits, Services &amp; Examples</a><br />- <a href="/value-based-care-pay-for-performance-healthcare-model">Value-Based Care Model: Pay-for-Performance Healthcare</a><br />- <a href="/senior-care-market-trends">Senior Care &amp; Assisted Living Market Trends</a><br />- <a href="/wearable-technology-healthcare-medical-devices">Smart Medical Devices: Wearable Tech in Healthcare</a><br />- <a href="/artificial-intelligence-healthcare">AI in Healthcare</a><br />- <a href="/remote-patient-monitoring-industry-explained">Remote Patient Monitoring Industry: Devices &amp; Market Trends</a></p>

Buzzy health startup Oscar is making a big bet on a crucial change to how you get your healthcare. The CEO shared how he thinks that will happen.

<p class="source"><span>Crystal Cox/Business Insider</span></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Small and mid-size biotech companies are increasingly launching the drugs they develop, <strong>rather than getting added to the portfolios of larger pharmaceutical companies with established teams to sell the drugs.</strong></li><li>Launching a drug successfully - that is, getting insurers to cover the cost of the new treatment - isn't as easy as proving the drug is safe and effective. Often, governments and private insurers require more evidence that it's worth it to pay for the drug. </li><li>Business Insider spoke to biotech executives at the BIO CEO &amp; Investor Conference in New York on Monday to break down what all companies need to do to get it right. </li><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</strong></li></ul><p>Beyond showing their drugs are safe and effective, biotech companies are increasingly on the hook to prove why insurers should cover their new drugs.</p><p>That is, biotech companies need to prove to insurers and governments why they should cover the cost of a medication, by providing evidence that it will improve the life of a patient in some way, for instance, or save the insurer money later down the line. </p><p>To get on the market, new treatments need to pass the muster of the Food and Drug Adminstration, which vets the drugs to see if they've proven to be safe and effective. But getting past that hurdle doesn't necessarily mean the drug will get covered, particularly if <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-drug-company-startup-developing-drugs-plans-to-charge-less-2020-1">it comes with a high price tag.</a></p><p>At the annual BIO CEO &amp; Investor Conference in New York on Monday, executives behind large and small biotechs shared what drugmakers need to do to get it right.</p><p>They explained why it's critical to build ways to capture the evidence that makes the case for coverage for a particular drug early, and the importance of being ready for things to go wrong. Here are the 4 considerations every biotech executive team should keep in mind. </p><p><em><strong>Never miss out on healthcare news. <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/health-insider">Subscribe to Dispensed,</a> our weekly newsletter on pharma, biotech, and healthcare.</strong></em></p><h2>Go early</h2><p>Above and beyond all else, the executives agreed, it's important to think about proving why your drug should be covered earlier than ever in the development process.</p><p>"I think the key thing is to think about it early," Synlogic CEO Aoife Brennan said. "For me that's my biggest learning through success and failure." </p><p>For companies that are discovering new molecules that could one day become drugs, bringing on a staff that would prepare the drug for launch isn't necessarily an option. But if you wait to consider the evidence you'll need to prove the worth of your drug to insurers until then, it'll be too late. </p><p>"You're too late, if you're starting two years before launch," Brennan said. Instead, companies should be thinking about it when they initially submit their drug for human trials.</p><p>In particular, companies have to think about patients and what they'll ultimately want out of a new treatment. </p><p>"We can think about a really simple framework that starts with the patients and really understand even before you speak to FDA, who is that patient? And what are they going to require your product to solve for them?" Brennan said. "I've learned most in situations where I thought I understood that."</p><p>For instance, Brennan's company is developing a treatment for phenylketonuria, a rare genetic condition that leads to a buildup of the amino acid phenylalanine in the body. At first, Brennan spoke to experts on the disease who told her it would be great if the company could show it could lower the amount of phenylalanine in the body by a certain amount. </p><p>But then, Brennan's team spoke to patients and parents. Their priorities were much more focused on being able to get rid of the brain fogginess they were experiencing, or making it easier to enjoy reading a book.  </p><p>"As CEO of a small company, this wasn't good news to me," Brennan said. Lowering levels of phenylalanine would be easy to measure in a blood test as part of the clinical trial. The priorities the patients and families had mentioned, on the other hand, were a little less clear. </p><p>"I knew that we had to start right then," Brennan said, even before the clinical trials had kicked off. She'd have to include some of those measures that were important to patients from day one in human trials. </p><h2>Understand the problem</h2><p>Jing L. Marantz, head of medical affairs at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, recalled an Albert Einstein quote that sums up her approach to finding the evidence a company will need to prove the value of a drug. </p><p>When asked how he'd spend time solving a problem if given an hour, <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3007430/einsteins-problem-solving-formula-and-why-youre-doing-it-all-wrong">he said</a> he'd spend 55 minutes defining the problem and five minutes actually solving it.</p><p>The same is true in biotech, Marantz said. </p><p>"Really understand what the problem is that you would like to solve, and understand the stakeholders that play a role in that proper chain and then solve it," Marantz said is her advice to biotech companies looking to get this right. "Take time to think about what the problem is and then solve it."</p><h2>Have a strategy </h2><p>Stacey Seltzer, partner at Aisling Capital and Shawn Tomasello, board member at Urogen and former chief commercial officer at Kite Pharma agreed: It's important to think through all the possible outcomes and have a strategy for each. </p><p>"As a company you want to think about the best case scenario," Seltzer said. But the best management teams out there think through all the different scenarios: the good, the bad, and the spectrum within, she said. </p><p>"You have to have a strategy for success and a strategy for failure," Tomasello said. "That doesn't mean to make it happen, but you have to force yourself to sit down and be honest with yourself about this program that you're in love with and knowing the strategy for success or failure. "</p><h2>Have a partner</h2><p>Carolyn Magill is the CEO of Aetion, a company that analyzes data collected from outside of clinical trials and works with biotechs to turn that data into information that can be used to prove the value of a particular drug. </p><p>"I would predictably choose a partner who can help you approach this in a reliable way that's consistent with standards that are evolving and bring a level of transparency and replicability," Magill said. </p><p>"Much of the work that's done on our platform helps to articulate findings in the same context that payers in particular will respond to. "</p><p>For instance, she mentioned an instance in which health insurer <a href="https://www.aetion.com/post/how-real-world-evidence-supports-outcomes-based-care-and-contracting">Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield in New Jersey</a> used Aetion to look more closely at its members living with diabetes. Looking through the data Aetion analyzed, the company realized there was a subset of its members that should have been on a more expensive drug sooner, a group of treatments known as SGLT2 inhibitors which includes drugs like Jardiance and Invokana. </p><p>The pharma company who made those drugs could take that information to prove out what impact the drug could have if used sooner, and what that might mean for how the drugmaker priced its drug for the insurer. That is, perhaps it could change its contract with the insurer to get paid based on whether the drug helped keep the member healthier. </p><ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eqrx-drug-company-startup-developing-drugs-plans-to-charge-less-2020-1">Meet EQRx, a startup that just raised $200 million to take on Big Pharma by making drugs cheaper</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/genetic-testing-company-strategy-after-layoffs-23andme-ancestry-helix-2020-2">The DNA testing industry is stuck in a rut. Here's how 23andMe and Ancestry are plotting their next moves.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/servier-pharmaceuticals-ceo-david-lee-career-advice-2020-1">The 37-year-old CEO of a major pharma company lays out the three-part strategy that drove his career</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/novartis-ceo-vas-narasimhan-lower-bonus-compensation-zolgensma-controversy-2020-2">The CEO of Swiss pharma giant Novartis voluntarily gave up $400,000 of his bonus because of a controversy swirling around the world's most expensive drug</a></li></ul><p class="tagline"><a href="/intelligence/digital-health?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_subscription&amp;itm_content=health&amp;itm_campaign=digital-health"></a></p><p>Featured Digital Health Articles:<br />- <a href="/telehealth-industry-explained">Telehealth Industry: Benefits, Services &amp; Examples</a><br />- <a href="/value-based-care-pay-for-performance-healthcare-model">Value-Based Care Model: Pay-for-Performance Healthcare</a><br />- <a href="/senior-care-market-trends">Senior Care &amp; Assisted Living Market Trends</a><br />- <a href="/wearable-technology-healthcare-medical-devices">Smart Medical Devices: Wearable Tech in Healthcare</a><br />- <a href="/artificial-intelligence-healthcare">AI in Healthcare</a><br />- <a href="/remote-patient-monitoring-industry-explained">Remote Patient Monitoring Industry: Devices &amp; Market Trends</a></p>            <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dermatologist-reveals-why-men-go-bald-science-hair-2020-1">The reason some men go bald, according to a dermatologist</a></h3>

You Searched For "eqrx" and got 12 results

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