Technology is offering a new fix for one of the most confounding health-care challenges: getting patients with chronic disease to take better care of themselves.
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Diabetes: Keeping the condition at bay

Prediabetes—higher-than-normal blood sugar—increases the risk of stroke and heart attack. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prediabetes affects 86 million adults, or more than one in three, and as many as 30% of them will develop diabetes within five years unless they lose weight through a healthy diet and exercise.

While many health plans and insurers offer diabetes-prevention plans, the lifestyle changes to ward off diabetes can require daily hand-holding, so more are looking for ways to deliver such programs digitally. In collaboration with the American Medical Association, Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare, with 22 hospitals and 185 clinics, is pilot-testing an online program provided by San Francisco-based Omada Health for patients at risk for diabetes. The yearlong program starts with a core 16-week online course on better lifestyle habits, and assigns patients to a personal health coach and private online support forum with moderated discussions.

Read More: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apps-help-patients-manage-diabetes-blood-pressure-copd-2017-07-12

SAN FRANCISCO & BLOOMFIELD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Building on the largest enrollment quarter in the company’s history, Omada Health today announced a $50 million fundraising round led by global health services leader Cigna (NYSE: CI). In addition to leading the fundraising round, Cigna will also grow its non-exclusive commercial partnership with Omada, adding the recognized Omada Program to Cigna’s suite of health improvement services. Joining the Cigna-led fundraising round were new investors Civilization Ventures and Sanofi Genzyme BioVentures.

As part of the expanded commercial collaboration, eligible Cigna-administered health plan customers may have no-cost access to Omada’s digital intensive behavioral counseling platform as a fully covered preventive benefit in the carrier’s health improvement program portfolio. The Cigna-Omada Initiative will incorporate Omada’s data-driven, evidence-based digital behavioral counseling program and be available to Cigna customers with prediabetes, as well as those at elevated risk of chronic conditions such as heart disease and hypertension.

Read More: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170614005208/en/Omada-Health-Raises-50-Million-Led-Cigna

Aside from Humana and Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Omada Health has scored yet another insurer investor: Cigna.

Omada, which has a built a digital platform to prevent prediabetics from becoming full-blown Type 2 diabetes patients, announced Wednesday that Cigna led its $50 million round that also attracted two new investors: Civilization Ventures and Sanofi Genzyme BioVentures.

Cigna is doing more than just investing in Omada. It is also expanding its commercial partnership with the San Francisco-based company such that the behavioral health technology will be made available to Cigna customers with prediabetes, as well as those at higher risk of chronic conditions such as heart disease and hypertension.

Read More: http://medcitynews.com/2017/06/cigna-leads-omada-healths-latest-50m-investment-round/

Oxygen-rich blood generally flows from the heart to the brain, but a new technology aimed at preventing strokes temporarily reverses that path.

Surgeons at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa are the first in this region, and among a growing number nationwide, to use the system to channel blood from the brain through a special external filter and then injecting it back into the body via a vein in the leg.

The point of this unusual rerouting is to keep bits of plaque in a clogged carotid artery — plaque can be knocked loose during insertion of a stent — from traveling to the brain, where they can cause strokes.
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“While the flow is reversed, any plaque that tries to break loose gets filtered out,” said Dr. Scott Musicant, a vascular surgeon at Sharp Grossmont.

Made by Silk Road Medical in Sunnyvale, the system is a new take on the well-established idea of using stents to open narrowed carotid arteries. Studies of this technology, which has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is covered by Medicare, found that only 1.4 percent of patients suffered strokes when undergoing the blood-flow-reversal technique. In comparison, strokes occurred in about 4 percent of patients who underwent regular stenting procedures.

Read More: ​http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/sd-me-brain-blood-20170602-story.html 

Outset Medical Sets Out To Upend Dialysis

Leslie Trigg didn’t design her Medtech career, but her pursuit of the right opportunities led her to a series of wildly successful start-ups including her recent venture, Outset Medical, creator of an innovative new dialysis system.
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The first-time CEO recognized Outset’s potential as it seeks to bring change to an industry that has remained the same for decades. In this podcast, Trigg shares her early thoughts about Outset’s potential and what she’s learned along the way.
Trigg also takes the time to share some insights on what makes being a Medtech leader most meaningful.

Listen here: http://healthegy.com/outset-ceo-trigg-talks-dialysis-fundraising-and-what-makes-a-medtech-career-matter/

BEND, Ore. - St. Charles Bend announced Monday it is the first hospital in Oregon to offer a new treatment program for patients at risk for stroke due to blockages in their neck arteries.

The minimally invasive procedure, called TransCarotid Artery Revascularization or TCAR, utilizes a new FDA-approved neuroprotection system that temporarily reverses blood flow in the artery during the procedure. Dangerous bits of plaque and blood clots that could dislodge and otherwise travel to the brain and cause a stroke are safely diverted away while a dedicated transcarotid stent is inserted to open and stabilize the blockage. 

Prior to TCAR, the main treatment option for severe carotid artery disease was an open surgical procedure called carotid endarterectomy.

Read More: ​http://www.ktvz.com/news/st-charles-first-oregon-hospital-to-offer-carotid-artery-procedure/499916097

Q1 Cash Balance of $156.9M — Cash Through Q3 2019

Phase 2 Demcizumab DENALI Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Trial Did Not Meet Endpoints

Focused on Immuno-Oncology Pipeline and Celgene Collaboration Programs

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 08, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:OMED), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel anti-cancer therapeutics, today announced first quarter financial results.  As of March 31, 2017, cash, and short-term investments totaled $156.9 million.

"We continue to drive forward our strong immuno-oncology R&D pipeline, including anti-TIGIT, wholly-owned GITRL-Fc trimer, and our novel undisclosed immuno-oncology discovery programs — as well as advancing programs in our Celgene collaboration to $98 million in potential opt-in payments within the next two years," said Paul J. Hastings, OncoMed's Chairman and CEO.  "With more than two years cash, we are dedicated to advancing our pipeline while exploring partnering opportunities to advance all of our programs."

Read More: www.oncomed.com/invest/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1025195

Phase 1a Study Will Assess Novel Checkpoint Inhibitor as a Single Agent in Solid Tumors

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:OMED), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel anti-cancer therapeutics, announced today that the first patient has been dosed in the company's Phase 1a clinical trial of anti-TIGIT (OMP-313M32).  Anti-TIGIT is an investigational immuno-oncology therapeutic candidate intended to block suppression of the immune system in tumors and enable immune system anti-tumor activity, similar to marketed checkpoint inhibitors that target the PD-L1-PD-1 axis.
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"The first wave of immuno-oncology agents demonstrated that disabling immune suppression mechanisms in tumors can enable the body's immune system to fight cancers with good efficacy. Still, available immunotherapies have limited results for many cancer patients, and there remains a pressing need for new agents and combinations to improve outcomes," said Johanna Bendell, M.D., Associate Director of the Drug Development Program at Sarah Cannon Research Institute and a lead investigator for the Phase 1a anti-TIGIT study.  "The immuno-suppressive receptor TIGIT is expressed on many different tumor types, giving us reason to believe that an anti-TIGIT antibody, such as OncoMed's OMP-313M32, has potential for broad activity in cancer patients. I look forward to seeing its performance in the clinic."

Read More: http://www.oncomed.com/invest/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1024817

Outset Medical announced it received $76.5 million in Series C equity funding. A new investor, funds advised by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc., led the round, which also included participation from existing investors Fidelity Management & Research Company, Partner Fund Management LP, Warburg Pincus, Perceptive Advisors and The Vertical Group.

Outset’s technology, the Tablo Hemodialysis System, is aimed at clinics who want to develop the self-care option for patients. It can also be used in hospitals and skilled nursing facilities.

The company will use proceeds from the financing to expand the commercial introduction of the Tablo System in acute and chronic care markets in the United States.

Read More: ​http://www.nephrologynews.com/outset-medical-gets-financing-expand-introduction-tablo-dialysis-machine/