Source: Express Scripts

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Express Scripts Launch­es First Dig­i­tal Health For­mu­la­ry for Apps & Devices (HIT Con­sul­tant):

“Start­ing in Jan­u­ary 2020, Express Scripts Dig­i­tal Health For­mu­la­ry will ini­tial­ly include 15 solu­tions for remote mon­i­tor­ing ser­vices and dig­i­tal ther­a­peu­tics that aid in the man­age­ment of eight of the country’s most com­mon chron­ic con­di­tions: dia­betes, pre­di­a­betes, hyper­ten­sion, asth­ma, pul­monary dis­ease, depres­sion, anx­i­ety, and insom­nia Read the rest of this entry »

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Time to wrap-up anoth­er very active month with our Sharp­Brains e‑newsletter sum­ma­riz­ing excit­ing devel­op­ments in brain research, health­care and tech­nol­o­gy — plus a cou­ple fun brain teasers to spark curios­i­ty and inno­va­tion 🙂

New brain research:

• Brain scans shed light on the brain net­works sup­port­ing Awe
• For World Men­tal Health Day let’s review how a healthy diet can pro­mote men­tal well-being
• Stren­u­ous phys­i­cal exer­cise may lead to cog­ni­tive –not just phys­i­cal– fatigue

New thinking about brain & mental health:

• The Nation­al Acad­e­my of Med­i­cine (NAM) shares dis­cus­sion paper to help empow­er 8 bil­lion minds
• A call to action: We need the right incen­tives to guide eth­i­cal inno­va­tion in neu­rotech and health­care
• Qan­tas mon­i­tors brain­waves of pilots and pas­sen­gers to test 19.5‑hour flight from NY to Syd­ney
• UW Med­i­cine cre­ates new Insti­tute for Brain Health Solu­tions

Emerging neurotech and digital brain health:

• Bay­er to sup­port 11 dig­i­tal health star­tups, 5 of which are devel­op­ing behavioral/ cognitive/ men­tal health solu­tions
• BrainCheck rais­es $8 mil­lion to dig­i­tize cog­ni­tive assess­ments and bet­ter serve the aging pop­u­la­tion
• Novar­tis dis­solves agree­ment to mar­ket Pear Ther­a­peu­tics’ pre­scrip­tion dig­i­tal ther­a­peu­tics for substance/ opi­oid abuse
• After 8‑year fol­low-up, study finds robust and sus­tained anti­de­pres­sant response to deep brain stim­u­la­tion (DBS)

Finally, a couple fun brain teasers:

• Quick: Answer this to stretch your mind and rec­og­nize your bias­es
• Which train is going the wrong way?

Have a excel­lent Hal­loween…

The Sharp­Brains Team

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As San­doz returns mar­ket­ing rights for dig­i­tal ther­a­peu­tics to Pear, what does it mean for co-pro­mote arrange­ments? (MM&M):

“San­doz, the gener­ics divi­sion of Novar­tis, is alter­ing com­mer­cial course, return­ing mar­ket­ing duties for two pre­scrip­tion dig­i­tal ther­a­peu­tics (DTx) back to Pear Ther­a­peu­tics. The move, which some had antic­i­pat­ed, comes 18 months after the two signed a co-pro­mo­tion deal.

Since the Sandoz/Pear pact was wide­ly seen as a lit­mus test of sorts for pharma’s role in help­ing dis­trib­ute this nascent tech­nol­o­gy, the com­mer­cial break-up rais­es ques­tions about the via­bil­i­ty of such part­ner­ships going for­ward. It also high­lights the par­ties’ some­times con­flict­ing pri­or­i­ties: Read the rest of this entry »

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Ana Maiques, CEO and founder of neu­rotech com­pa­ny Neu­ro­electrics, writes up a com­pelling case in her recent arti­cle, sum­ma­rized thus:

“I strong­ly believe that Neu­rotech entre­pre­neurs can not afford not to be involved in neu­roethics. It is sim­ply not an option any­more.”

I share that belief and would like to take it one step fur­ther:

“I strong­ly believe that health­care prac­ti­tion­ers, researchers, exec­u­tives and reg­u­la­tors can not afford not to be involved in neu­roethics. It is sim­ply not an option any­more.”

Read the rest of this entry »

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Bay­er inks deals with eleven star­tups under G4A Dig­i­tal Health Part­ner­ships pro­gram (press release):

“Bay­er announced today that the com­pa­ny has signed col­lab­o­ra­tion agree­ments with eleven dig­i­tal health star­tups. As part of the pro­gram, Bay­er will sup­port these start­up com­pa­nies aim­ing for longer-term col­lab­o­ra­tions to dri­ve for­ward the devel­op­ment of spe­cif­ic dig­i­tal solu­tions to improve patients’ health Read the rest of this entry »