Everyone in the industry should be paying attention to the Talkspace acquisition because it’s emblematic of a lot of the deals that I suspect will happen in the next 12 months. It’s a relatively healthy outcome for the industry, so it might also inspire some IPOs for companies that are waiting in the wings.
It shows a few things about what the market is rewarding:
B2B contracts are heavily favored as a mechanism to build to scale and acquire patients without spending enormous marketing costs.
Strategics see value in digital health as a potential “front door”;
There’s a finite pool of providers, so incumbents are willing to spend on tech-enabled services to acquire these highly-trained, deeply specialized individuals.
Read the full analysis that I wrote with equities research analyst Stephanie Davis here.
Aside from looking at health-tech deals, I’m continuing to spend time thinking about how healthcare will be transformed in an era of AI. The Citrini memo may have been off base and outlandish with some of its predictions, but it got people talking. Healthcare needs its own memo that takes an intellectually honest look at where all this could be going.
So I’m teaming up with my friend Mike Desjadon, CEO of Anomaly Insights, to anonymously survey our community to gather feedback on what could happen. Our goal is a memo that we could publish that pushes us to imagine what healthcare could look like in a few years, and inspires dialogue and debate.
If you’d like to participate in that, your contributions would be highly appreciated. Please fill out the form here.
And now for the news of the week, featuring Annalisa Merelli and our HBS intern Meredith Nolan.
Get Botox at Planned Parenthood?
The news: The largest reproductive health provider affiliate is looking to make up for a $100 million revenue gap by adding cosmetic and lifestyle services.
What PP Mar Monte said: “We know we have to face reality to keep our doors open. “That’s where these new services come in,” Stacy Cross, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, told the Wall Street Journal.
What’s on the menu: Botox, IV hydration, and soon, laser hair removal and fillers.
Novo Nordisk dropped its suit against Hims & Hers
The news: After Hims & Hers agreed to sell Wegovy at the same price of other online platforms and halting the promotion of compounded GLP-1, Novo Nordisk dropped their lawsuit against the telehealth company.
What Novo Nordisk said: Novo CEO Mike Doustdar told CNBC that he reserves the option to bring the lawsuit back “if needed.”
Stock reaction: Hims shares went up 40%. Novo went up 2.1% in Copenhagen.