Geekwire Health Tech

Five years ago, when Dr. Leslie Alexandre arrived in Seattle to lead the industry group Life Science Washington, she found a community in a mild state of shock. "One of the real challenges was our ecosystem had tons of great research going on, and many wonderful companies, but I think our industry was a little bit in the doldrums in 2016, in part because Amgen had just completed moving out of Elliott Bay," she said. "It started in 2014. And when I arrived, it was just the last people." Amgen was the giant that five years earlier acquired Seattle’s homegrown biotech standout Immunex, known for developing the Enbrel arthritis drug, still widely prescribed to this day. Immunex was based on a big waterfront campus, which today is home to Expedia Group’s global headquarters. But there had been hopes in the local community that Amgen would maintain and even expand its operations in the region after the Immunex acquisition. "And having it move away was kind of, 'Oh my gosh, one more company, one more great compan

Amazon made headlines at the height of the pandemic for developing its own COVID-19 testing system for its workers. The same test is now available to the public for $40. You can order the test on Amazon.com, take it at home and ship it to Amazon to get your results.  So what is it like to take Amazon’s COVID test? We decided to find out. On this episode, GeekWire reporter Charlotte Schubert goes hands-on with Amazon’s COVID-19 test, adding to our understanding of the tech giant’s emerging health initiatives. We also hear from an expert in the field, Jerry Cangelosi, a University of Washington professor who has studied the effectiveness of these types of self-administered COVID-19 tests.  Read more in this GeekWire story. Thanks to the sponsor of Health Tech Season 5, Premera Blue Cross. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amazon's move into healthcare is multifaceted, including COVID-19 testing, its Halo health band and service, cloud services for healthcare and life sciences, and even primary care for its employees. A major motivation for the company: the sheer size of the healthcare market, and the massive problems to be solved. "Amazon is a big company now, still with big growth ambitions, and so they need to tackle big markets," said John Rossman, a former Amazon business leader and the author of The Amazon Way, speaking on a recent episode of GeekWire's Day 2 podcast. "Healthcare is going to become a bigger and bigger component of what their strategy is going to be, from every angle." But one of the tech giant's healthcare initiatives seems especially well-positioned to benefit from Amazon's traditional e-commerce expertise: prescriptions by mail. The company launched its Amazon Pharmacy service in November 2020, building on its 2018 acquisition of prescription-by-mail company PillPack. "Really, we wanted to make a ph

Before their son was born, Sanath Kumar Ramesh and his wife Ramya had normal first-time-parent jitters. Ramesh, who works for Amazon as a software engineering manager, was so excited to welcome his little boy. He was ready for the challenges and rewards of parenthood. In August 2018, Raghav was born, and Ramesh’s life began changing in ways he’d never expected. On this episode of GeekWire's Health Tech Podcast, we’re reconnecting with Ramesh to hear more of his compelling, inspiring story. We previously reported on Ramesh and Raghav’s doctors and their efforts to treat Raghav. In this podcast we go deeper into Ramesh’s experience as both a father and a talented tech engineer working to help both his son and others struggling to save loved ones battling rare diseases. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The speed of the creation of vaccines for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 was a modern marvel. You might already have already gotten yours. But what if vaccines and therapeutics could emerge even faster in response to the next pandemic. That’s one of the goals of a $5 million gift from Microsoft to the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine.  On this episode, we talk with Microsoft’s chief scientific officer, Eric Horvitz, and the director of the UW institute, David Baker, about the new age of artificial intelligence and biotechnology, and the potential to engineer a very different future. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Walter Isaacson has studied and written extensively about the physics and technology revolutions as the biographer of such figures as Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs. But after writing his latest book, he is convinced there's a far more momentous revolution in the works. "The next few decades are going to be the era of biotech," he said in a GeekWire podcast conversation about his new book, The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing and the Future of the Human Race. "We'll be able to do totally amazing things that will not only make us healthier but in some ways will transform our species. So as much as I love the digital revolution, I think this is the big one." The book explores the history and implications of gene editing through the stories of scientists and other key figures in the field. The central character is Jennifer Doudna, the UC Berkeley biochemist who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2020 with French geneticist Emmanuelle Charpentier for their discoveries and work in CRISPR gene editin

To help people live, Mark Roth scrutinizes those who've come frighteningly close to dying. People who have been lost in the frozen wilderness in a Mount Rainier whiteout or stowed away in the wheel well of a trans-Pacific jet. People who have suffered massive heart attacks or body-crushing car wrecks. Roth, a biochemist and cell biologist at Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, sees a thread connecting these catastrophes with something seemingly quite different: immortality. Both conditions "press pause" on life, he said. It's playing dead without being dead. An entrepreneur and past winner of a MacArthur "Genius Grant," Roth built a career on making unlikely, unconventional, scientific connections. He shares the story of his extraordinary work on this episode of GeekWire’s Health Tech Podcast, reported and hosted by GeekWire reporter Lisa Stiffler. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

GeekWire editor Todd Bishop: On a cold, clear weekday morning last month, my quest to figure out whether I had COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic took me to my back porch, where a mobile phlebotomist drew my blood. It had been 10 months since I was sick, and I had already received a negative result on a standard antibody test.  That earlier test was designed to detect the presence of the antibodies produced by the body’s immune system to ward off the virus that causes COVID-19. The negative result meant I probably didn't have COVID back in March. But given the possibility of a false negative in the antibody test, I wasn’t giving up that easily. And this test was different. This was a first-of-its kind diagnostic tool from Seattle-based Adaptive Biotechnologies, a company that develops technology to sequence the human immune system for the diagnosis and treatment of disease. T-cells are specialized cells that determine the human immune system’s response to disease. Adaptive says tell-tale signs of T

A group of 14 U.S. health systems, representing tens of millions of patients across 40 states, will pool data using software developed by Seattle startup Truveta, leveraging artificial intelligence to search for medical breakthroughs and previously undetected patterns of inequity in healthcare. The company, led by former Microsoft Windows chief Terry Myerson, gave new details about its origins and plans Thursday morning, saying it has grown to 53 employees. Truveta emerged from stealth mode in October. Created and governed by the participating health systems, Truveta says its goal is to extract insights from large amounts of health data, using those insights to improve healthcare without sacrificing the privacy of patients. The health systems will use software developed by Truveta to remove personally identifying information from the data. In addition, the company says it will be able to provide researchers with statistically representative populations for studies and clinical trials. Appearing on this epi

GeekWire editor Todd Bishop: A few weeks ago, I started wearing a new health band. It regularly eavesdrops on my side of conversations, and it has a lot of opinions about them. “You had three phrases that sounded annoyed, irritated or disgusted," a section in the app reported on a recent evening, recapping my daily interactions. Not only that, but I had "one phrase that sounded stubborn or condescending.” Another feature invites me to strip down to my underwear for a picture. "Find a well-lit area and try to avoid light from behind," a voice from the app instructed me as it prepared to conduct a high-tech, 3D body scan. "Change into minimal clothing so the camera can see your body.” Yes, as you might have guessed by now, this is the Amazon Halo band and subscription service, part of the tech giant’s big move into health and wellness. Thanks to its revelations, I am now painfully aware of my tone of voice, and more empathetic toward my family and friends who have to put up with me. I've informed the Amazo

To say that Dr. Brad Younggren has a unique perspective on COVID-19 would be an understatement -- because he actually has multiple perspectives. Dr. Younggren is the chief medical officer at Seattle-based healthcare startup 98point6, which has seen interest in its on-demand virtual care service skyrocket amid the pandemic. He's also an emergency physician, and the medical director for emergency preparedness, at EvergreenHealth Medical Center, in Kirkland, Wash., the first hospital in the country to manage an influx of COVID-19 patients earlier this year. And he has been on the front lines before, literally, as a former U.S. Army physician who earned a Bronze Star and the Combat Medic Badge for his service in Iraq. So it was with a sense of hope and cautious optimism that he received his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine last week, along with his Evergreen colleagues. "It's been an intense year, working through this massive growth at 98point6, and seeing how we can support the country at scale," he said. "The

Did you get really sick in the first few months of the year? Do you wonder if it was COVID-19? You're not alone.  On the Season 5 premiere of the GeekWire Health Tech Podcast, we revisit the early days of the pandemic in an effort to figure out a mysterious illness, with help from experts at the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and ZoomCare. We come away with a deeper understanding of the nuances of COVID-19 testing, and insights into how the outbreak is changing the detection and treatment of disease. Hosted and produced by GeekWire editor Todd Bishop, with guests Dr. Erik Vanderlip, ZoomCare chief medical officer, and Dr. Alex Greninger, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the University of Washington Medical Center. Season 5 of the GeekWire Health Tech Podcast is sponsored by Premera Blue Cross. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The last time we caught up with Pillsy co-founders Jeff LeBrun and Chuks Onwuneme, three years ago, they were focused on their flagship product, a smart pill bottle that sounds an alarm if people forget to take their pills. But that was just one example of the broader trend of remote patient monitoring -- technology that helps medical professionals keep tabs on the status of patients at home, day in and day out, not just during periodic visits to the doctor’s office. Even before COVID-19 led to a boom in telehealth, LeBrun says, the need for better remote patient monitoring was becoming clear to Medicare officials, due to an aging population and a limited supply of health care workers. "There's been over a decade of research showing that remote patient monitoring has led to improved health outcomes and reduced costs," LeBrun says. "With a system that's already stretched thin, they knew that they needed to use more technology to try to handle this coming load of care that they would need to provide over the

GeekWire Health Tech Podcast subscriber, you're invited to join us at 1:30 p.m. Pacific this Thursday, May 21, for a live online discussion with Dr. Thomas Lynch, the new president of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. You may have caught my earlier conversation with Dr. Lynch on this podcast when he was just starting in the job, back in February. Of course, a lot has happened since then! Register for the webinar here. Scientists from the Seattle-based institute have emerged as leaders in the global effort to understand, track and reduce the spread of COVID-19. We’ll talk with Dr. Lynch about those initiatives, as well as Fred Hutch’s core cancer research efforts, and get an update on his long-term vision for Fred Hutch as an institution. Participation in these live webinars is normally exclusive to GeekWire members, but as a health tech podcast subscriber, you’re invited to join us for this one as our guest, and sample one of the perks of membership to see if you’d like to join.  Go here to regi

In the world of diagnostic tests for COVID-19, there are two main approaches: PCR tests, which detect the presence of the live virus; and serology tests, which detect antibodies that indicate whether someone has recovered from the disease. But could there be a third way? Two companies based in the Seattle region, Microsoft and Adaptive Biotechnologies, are working together to try to create a better diagnostic test. Joining us to explain the initiative are Peter Lee, Microsoft corporate vice president of AI and Research, and Adaptive CEO Chad Robins.  At a basic level, Microsoft and Adaptive are looking for the unique signature associated with COVID-19 in the specialized cells that determine the human immune system's response to the disease. Once that signature is identified, they say, it could lead to a new test that would detect the tell-tale signs of the disease in others, providing a new form of diagnosis. The companies last week launched a virtual clinical study, seeking 1,000 people across the country

We’re exploring the intersection of psychedelics, health care, mental health and even spirituality with a journalist who has been reporting on the topic for GeekWire, two entrepreneurs looking to capitalize on future legalization of psychedelics, and a physician scientist who uses a form of psychedelics as part of his practice of medicine and psychotherapy. Related stories COVID-19 mental health crunch puts impetus on psychedelic drug innovation, doctor says Oregon psychedelic startup tests nasal spray for PTSD, depression as legislative momentum builds With Oregon activists pushing for state-wide decriminalization of magic mushrooms for therapeutic use this year, one local startup wants to keep the momentum going. Silo Wellness, based in Springfield, Oregon, has developed a nasal spray for microdosing psilocybin meant to aid with anxiety, PTSD and depression. The company now hopes to spread the good word, offering seminars for volunteers who normally wouldn't try it on the black market to test the device i

SPOKANE, Wash. — If you showed up at an emergency room with a heart attack, you’d expect to receive some diagnostic tests like pulse, blood pressure and an EKG. You’d be surprised if medical professionals based their assessment only on how you looked, or how they perceived your behavior that day. Yet, that is exactly how autism spectrum disorder is diagnosed. Dr. Georgina Lynch, an assistant professor at Washington State University in Spokane, Wash., says autism is assessed with too limited a set of tools, focusing only on sociability and behavior markers that can often be perceived subjectively by healthcare providers. She started Appiture Biotechnologies to bring a new objective autism test to the healthcare market. Researchers have long hoped that a genetic marker or blood test would offer an objective clue to diagnosing autism. Instead, Dr. Lynch’s approach is based on what she finds to be a unique reaction to light in the pupils of people on the autism spectrum. “When we think of autism as just a beha

Much of the current focus in health care is rightly on the near-term challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. But beyond the current crisis, health care technology veterans are already seeing major changes that promise to become permanent realities -- from the sudden boom in telemedicine, to regulatory shifts impacting health care billing, to the use of location data to track the disease. "Most interesting is what's going to happen when this is over," says Anne Weiler, the co-founder and former CEO of Seattle health tech startup Wellpepper, recently acquired by Caravan Health. "I don't think people are going to be satisfied with going back to the status quo, because these other things are now working." "I think these regulatory changes represent a big shift in how health care will be delivered beyond 2020," adds Nirav Shah, CEO of Sentinel Healthcare, a neurologist and the former stroke director at Swedish Hospital in Seattle. Sentinel recently launched a real-time fever tracking app for COVID-19 cases, and tod

On this episode:FindTheMasks.com,GetUsPPE.org and Masks 4 WA. The coronavirus outbreak in Washington state has not yet reached the "peak" some public health officials anticipate but already ICU physicians like Mike Holmes are grappling with a dearth of necessary supplies. Holmes described an "extreme shortage" of masks he and his colleagues at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle need to treat COVID-19 patients. "We are now reusing single-use masks over and over and over again," he said. It's a challenge facing healthcare workers across Washington, who are asking the general public to donate any personal protective equipment (PPE) they have. Though Washington is receiving some supplies from the federal stockpile of protective equipment, people on the front lines of the crisis say it is not enough. But long before Washington became a hotspot for COVID-19, it was an epicenter of innovation, home to Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing, and hundreds of tech startups known for creative problem-solving. Many of those innova

A consortium of tech leaders — including Seattle’s Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Microsoft — today unveiled an AI-enabled database that’s meant to give researchers quicker, surer access to resources relating to coronavirus and how to stop it. GeekWire science editor Alan Boyle explains the initiative on this special episode of the GeekWire Health Tech Podcast.Read his story here.