Quest Diagnostics is hoping it’s found a winner in Haystack Oncology, with a $450 million bet on the cancer-focused blood test startup. The clinical testing giant plans to acquire Baltimore-based Haystack for its technology to detect minimal residual disease by catching the early signs of a solid tumor’s recurrence by sifting out small pieces of cancer DNA floating in the bloodstream. The deal includes $300 million in upfront cash, plus an additional $150 million should Haystack’s tests achieve certain performance milestones. Quest said it expects the deal to close by the end of June. “Haystack’s liquid biopsy technology, combined with…
Author: Abhay Panchal
In this episode, Torrey and I discuss his journey from aerospace engineering, building tesla coils at burning man, to founding Endiatx and making Pillbot; a pill-sized robot that can swim in the human stomach and be controlled by a joystick. A very unique story and inspiring experience.
After years in development, the FDA has said a smart, sensor-laden toilet seat has passed the agency’s muster. Casana—a startup describing itself as “the industry leader in monitoring heart health through smart toilets”—has received a green light for its Heart Seat to log users’ pulse rate and blood oxygen saturation, as part of its pitch for “effortless” at-home patient monitoring. The company, formed as a spinout of the Rochester Institute of Technology, said it also plans to seek additional FDA clearances for checking blood pressure every day (or more), and aims to have its Heart Seat publicly available by the…
Dr. Olufemi Kassim, a gastroenterologist at Loyola Medicine in Illinois, knows just how crucial gut health is to your overall well-being. Here are the steps she takes to keep her own gastrointestinal tract happy and healthy.
Crohn’s disease, a type of inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation of the tissues in the digestive tract, impacts over half a million Americans every year, including a number of well-known celebrities and figureheads. Here are 23 celebrities with Crohn’s disease: Sports: Kathleen Baker. Olympic swimmer Kathleen Baker has battled Crohn’s disease for years, struggling with stomach cramps, weight loss and nausea. Aerial Hull. Professional women’s wrestler Aerial Hull, known as Big Swole, was diagnosed with Crohn’s, which she refers to as “the nightmare virus,” in 2019. David Garrard. Former National Football League quarterback David Garrard had to have a…
Gastroenterologist pay has risen 11 percent in the last year, reaching $501,000 annually and outpacing the average specialty physician pay by $119,000. This jump in pay comes as high inflation rates continue to threaten practices, and a new Doximity report shows that many physician salaries are not keeping pace with inflation. Neal Kaushal, MD, a gastroenterologist at Adventist Health in Sonora, Calif., told Becker’s that while inflation is rising nationwide, he does not believe that is the main contributor to growing gastroenterology salaries. Instead, he believes that as the demand for gastroenterologists drives competition for talent among hospitals, ASCs and…
Burnout rates among physicians have been on the rise since 2021, with only 57.5 percent of physicians indicating they would choose the profession again, according to a 2022 survey of 2,500 U.S. physicians conducted by researchers at the American Medical Association, Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic, Stanford (Calif.) University School of Medicine and the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora. That number was down from 72.2 percent in 2020. Additionally, physician professional fulfillment scores dropped from 40 percent in 2020 to 22.4 percent in 2021. With physician burnout rates at an all-time high, here are six ways for leaders…
Abstract: Private equity (PE) investment in gastroenterology practices has significantly increased over the past several years. Because PE firms are prevented legally from owning a medical practice in many states, they usually form a management services organization to oversee all nonclinical aspects of the practice, leaving all clinical functions to the physician owners. Gastroenterology practices have become attractive investments to PE firms because of the willingness of gastroenterologists to join a PE-backed practice and the potential to earn profits through consolidating the market. Research has started to examine the effects of PE-backed practices on patients and on the gastroenterology specialty…
DENVER–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Gastro Care Partners (“GCP”), one of the largest providers of gastroenterology services and ancillary patient treatment services in Colorado and Wyoming, today announced that David Pyle has joined the company as Chief Executive Officer. As CEO, Mr. Pyle will continue to support GCP’s growth trajectory and expand its footprint through the continued development of ambulatory surgery centers, the introduction of new, value-added ancillary service lines, the expansion of partnerships with key hospitals and health systems, and the execution of accretive M&A opportunities with like-minded, growth-oriented physician shareholders. Mr. Pyle comes to GCP with significant experience in healthcare services and…
In a recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers evaluated the ability of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence-based chatbot assistant, to respond to patient questions posted on a publically accessible social media forum. Background:Owing to the quick expansion of digital health care, more and more patients have begun to raise queries on social media forums. Answering these questions is not just time-consuming but tedious for healthcare professionals. AI assistants, like ChatGPT, could help address this additional work and help draft quality responses, which later clinicians could review.