#22: AI’s in the Clinic, Trump Reshuffles the Healthcare Safety Net, & the Race to Scale Is On

This week in healthcare: AI tools are moving from lab to clinic, U.S. tax policy could reshape who gets care, and pharma giants are scaling hard through mega-deals. We break down what’s hype and what it all means.

• 🩺 Microsoft has unleashed an AI diagnostic tool that reportedly outperforms human doctors four times over when it comes to solving the most complicated cases. (FT)

• 🩸 Joii’s new femtech app scans period blood volume and clot sizes on your pad (yes, really) to give medical-grade insights; ditching the guesswork for real health data. (techeu)

• 🦴 From lab to lumbar. Bone Biologics has filed a US patent for its novel NELL-1 protein, designed to actively boost bone regeneration, aiming to revolutionise spine fusion and bone repair. (PB)

• 🧠 J&J MedTech has joined forces with AWS and NVIDIA to launch a new AI fund backing surgical innovation. The initiative will support startups developing next-gen surgical tech through funding, mentorship, and advanced tools. (MobiHealth)

• 💸 Say hello to zero-stress medical EMIs! CarePay just dropped Careena, a platform that offers instant, no‑cost EMIs up to ₹10 lakh for everything from surgeries to diagnostics. (eHealth)

• 🌱 Made in India, backed by foreign tech! Biological E will manufacture the HPV9 cervical cancer vaccine in India using cutting-edge tech from China’s Recbio, hoping to make the vaccine more accessible and affordable. (ET)

• 🚦 FDA gives the green light to Regeneron’s Lynozyfic, a bispecific antibody for multiple myeloma patients who’ve undergone at least four prior therapies. (Reuters)

🇮🇳 India

• 👓 WHO’s looking at us now? Karnataka’s Asha Kirana model of doorstep eye screenings & rural outreach is now recognised globally. WHO will showcase it as a best practice to other countries! (ETHealth)

• 💰 SBI General Insurance and Starfin India have launched a Hospital Daily Cash Benefit plan, offering fixed daily payouts of ₹1k (or more) during hospitalisation to support non-medical expenses. (EH)

• 🔍 Drama at the clinic! KKR’s (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.) freshly acquired Healthcare Global is under the Karnataka health ministry scanner for alleged ethical missteps in clinical trials. (VCCircle)

🌏️ Global

• 🏛️ US Senate’s new script! The Senate Republicans’ new “One Big Beautiful Bill” pushes 12 million Americans off Medicaid & Obamacare by 2034 and will likely add $3.3 trillion to the US debt, says the budget office. (BBC) (Reuters)

🇮🇳 India

• 🏥 Apollo Hospitals is spinning off its digital health and pharmacy arm into a standalone listed entity in two years. Shareholders get fancy perks (195  new shares for every 100), while Apollo still holds a 15% stake and the board seat. (VCCircle)

• 🧪 Ahmedabad-based pharma giant, Torrent, is snapping up KKR’s 46.4% stake in JB Pharma for ₹11,917 cr, valuing the company at a whopping ₹25,689 cr. (BioS)

• 💊 Piramal goes big in the U.S.! Piramal Pharma is investing $90M to expand U.S. sites in Riverview & Lexington, supercharging highly potent and sterile injectables for cancer treatments. (BioS)

🌏️ Global

• 🖊️ Abridge has doubled its valuation to $5.3 billion in only four months, after raising a fresh $300 M for its AI scribe tech. Now live in 150+ U.S. health systems, it's easing clinician burnout with real-time medical note-taking (TechCrunch)

• 🚀 Teleflex is taking over BIOTRONIK’s vascular unit for €760M, eyeing €177M in H2 2025 revenue and a $0.10 earnings-per-share boost. (MobiHealth)

• 🧬 AbbVie is betting big on next-gen cell therapy, acquiring Capstan for up to $2.1B to dive into in vivo CAR-T, a cutting-edge approach that programs immune cells inside the body. (BioPharmaDive)