Hinge Health, a fledgling digital health startup that’s building hardware and software to tackle musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders, has raised $8 million in a Series A round of funding led by European VC giant Atomico, with participation from existing seed investors, including Eleven Two Capital and the Vertical Group.

Founded in 2015, Hinge Health said that it’s setting out to use technology to combat lower-back and joint pain, which is reported to cost industry and individuals as much as $100 billion each year in the U.S. alone. Indeed, MSK disorders, such as back and shoulder pain, are one of the top medical expenditures for employers, and Hinge Health promises to drive those costs down by half.

Read More: https://venturebeat.com/2017/07/24/atomic-leads-8-million-investment-in-hinge-health-to-tackle-back-pain-and-other-chronic-injuries/

Silk Road Medical said today it raised $47 million in a new funding round to support its Enroute products designed for transcarotid artery revascularization procedures.

The round was led by newly invested Norwest Venture Partners and Janus Capital Management funds and joined by existing investors Warburg Pincus, The Vertical Group and CRG, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said.

Silk Road’s Enroute neuroprotection system is designed to allow physicians direct access to the common carotid artery in the neck to initiate high rate temporary blood flow reversal to protect the brain from stroke during implantations of its Enroute transcarotid stent.

“TCAR represents one of the next potential multi-billion dollar medical device markets, and Silk Road is eponymous with the category with a sustainable advantage. With 13 million ischemic strokes occurring annually and carotid artery disease the culprit in up to one third of cases, the opportunity for TCAR is tremendous,” Janus Henderson Investors’ Ethan Lovell said in a prepared statement.

Read More: ​http://www.massdevice.com/silk-road-medical-raises-47m/

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