Boulder Care raises $35 million for virtual addiction treatment

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Stephanie Papes Strong, founder and CEO of Boulder Care.

Boulder care

Stephanie Papes Strong took the opposite approach to most founders building companies during the coronavirus-induced telehealth boom. Hair startup Boulder care does not rely on internet advertisements and cash paying customers. Instead, Strong, an alum of the Forbes 30 Healthcare under 30 years of age list, sought out one of the toughest possible markets: helping low-income people with substance use disorders access treatment.

Boulder Care is currently offering virtual addiction treatment for opioid and alcohol use disorders, as well as co-occurring conditions, in three states: Oregon, Washington, and Ohio. About 11,000 patients in the program will have access to recovery specialists, physicians and medication-assisted treatments, such as buprenorphine. With 35 million dollars in Series C financing led by Advance Venture Partners announced Wednesday that Strong hopes to be in 10 states by 2026. “We’re excited to go to states with large rural populations, where we can almost immediately help expand access to care for people who don’t have other in-person treatment facilities,” she says. said.

Boulder Care contracts with Medicaid managed health insurance companies, including Altitude Health, UnitedHealth Community Plan And Centene, and is paid based on results, i.e. how many patients the company can initially engage and then keep on treatment. Nationally, about 20% of patients with opioid use disorders are still in treatment after six months, but about 70 to 80% of Boulder Care patients reach the six-month mark, Strong said. She will continue to take a slow and steady approach to growth. “Fifty million people have a substance use disorder, and people die every day from an opioid use disorder,” Strong said. “I bear that responsibility because we have to scale up the quality and have very close contact with every patient we serve.”

AI probably incorrectly points to breast cancer in black women

The study looked retrospectively at the results of almost 5,000 mammograms.

Getty

An FDA-approved AI algorithm is more likely to falsely indicate the presence of breast cancer in black women than in white, Hispanic and Asian women, according to a new study. The research published in the journal Radiology retrospectively looked at the results of nearly 5,000 mammogram exams performed at Duke University Medical Center between 2016 and 2019.

Pipeline and deal updates

AI: Sanofi announced that it has partnered with OpenAI and Formation Bio to build AI-powered software tools for drug discovery.

(AI)PO: Tempus AI, a company that uses AI to personalize lab test results, has done just that archived for an IPO. By 2023, the technology was used by 7,000 physicians and the company said it generated more than $530 million in revenue.

IF: The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health launched a public-private partnership to identify biomarkers and other assessments that could lead to earlier diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and potentially identify new drug targets for the disease.

AUTO-T: The FDA did that approved Bristol Myers Squibb’s Breyanzi, a CAR T-cell therapy, for the treatment of relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma.

Discovery of antibodies: The British startup LabGenius has been founded a $44.6 million Series B round led by M Ventures to further develop its machine learning drug discovery platform and advance its antibody therapeutic pipeline.

Digital Therapies: Click on Therapeutics purchased Better Therapeutics’ obesity and cardiometabolic strengths as it looks for opportunities to develop products alongside popular weight loss and diabetes drugs. The acquisition includes an FDA-approved digital drug for type 2 diabetes. The sales price was not disclosed.

First concern: Centivo, a startup that designs health plans that focus on primary care, has done just that purchased virtual primary care provider Eden Health. The sales price was not disclosed.

Immunology: AltruBio increased a $225 million Series B led by BVF Partners LP as the biotech startup continues Phase 2 clinical trials for its immune checkpoint booster for ulcerative colitis.

Hims & Hers shares hit three-year high after announcing $199 weight-loss alternative to Wegovy

Hims is known for providing low-cost and generic alternatives to popular brand-name drugs.

SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images

Shares of Hims, known for offering low-cost and generic alternatives to popular brand-name drugs, have nearly doubled in price since the start of the year, hitting $18.60 after the company announced a weight-loss treatment starting at $199 a month that will compete with Novo Wegovy and Ozempic from Nordisk.

Other healthcare news

Nesting is launching a frozen food brand specifically aimed at people taking GLP-1 medications, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, in an effort to offset potential sales losses.

The CDC is warning of a potential “global threat” after more people became infected with a deadlier variant of the mpox virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo over the past year.

Teens who use hemp People have a significantly higher risk of developing a psychotic disorder than those who don’t, according to new research.

Nevada is one step closer to having it abortion on the ballot this election.

New variants of the coronavirus called “FLiRT” are circulating around the world and becoming dominant in the US, and some experts worry they could cause a summer surge.