Hello and happy Friday, readers!
The robot overlords may be coming to a hospital near you. Or, well, the medical robot assistants, at the very least.
Digital health firm Diligent Robotics has raised $3 million in a seed funding round for its A.I.-fueled health care assistant tech, Moxi, according to the Austin Business Journal.
The Texas-based startup raised the seed capital from investors such as True Ventures and Ubiquity Ventures, and has reportedly raised a total of about $5.8 million to date.
Diligent will soon begin deploying Moxi—a robot that can help physicians and nurses with menial tasks such as gathering and distributing supplies, lab samples, and dirty laundry to where they need to go—following pilot trials at a number of hospitals. It’s unclear where exactly the first commercial launch will occur.
This seems to be a more low-key use of robots in the medical space than some other ongoing initiatives. As readers know, computers have started joining certain types of doctors in making medical calls (especially in fields such as radiology), and personal assistant bots such as Catalia Health’s Mabu is designed to be a companion to the elderly that can remind them to take their medication.
Heck, robots are increasingly involved in the non-invasive surgery space, a competitive field that includes the likes of Intuitive Surgical and Johnson & Johnson.
Compared to all that, using bots as sophisticated messenger and delivery units may seem quaint. But it’s still firmly in the “wave of the future” camp.
Read on for the day’s news, and have a wonderful weekend.
Sy Mukherjee, @the_sy_guy, sayak.mukherjee@fortune.com
DIGITAL HEALTH
Report: Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes isn't paying her lawyers. ABC and the Mercury News report that Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the scandal-plagued blood testing outfit Theranos, may not be paying her attorneys. The counselors have reportedly asked that they be allowed to quit Holmes' ongoing case over the payment concerns (the trial is slated for summer 2020). (ABC)
INDICATIONS
The U.S., barely, gets to keep claiming that it's measles-free. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says that the U.S. is still, technically, measles-free—despite the worst outbreak of the preventable infection in more than two decades, largely spurred by anti-vaccination movements. Since 75% of the some 1,250 cases have largely been isolated to secluded communities in New York, the overall country's numbers still pass muster for measles elimination. “CDC encourages Americans to embrace vaccination with confidence for themselves and their families. We want to emphasize that vaccines are safe. They remain the most powerful tool to preserve health and to save lives,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said in a statement. (The Hill)
THE BIG PICTURE
The e-cig backlash (and the backlash to the backlash) is getting more complicated. The vaping and e-cigarette health effects story is evolving so quickly it may be hard to keep track of exactly what's going on. Here are just a few update: 1) The number of reported vaping-related deaths (which seem to be overwhelmingly linked to THC cartridges and illicit black market vaping pods) has now risen to 20; 2) A New York court has temporarily halted the state's plans to ban all flavored e-cigs, just as the regulation was meant to go into effect; 3) A different court case in Massachusetts may uphold the commonwealth's four-month ban on vaping products. I'm sure we'll have a deluge of even more information in the coming weeks and months.
REQUIRED READING
Hong Kong's Mask Ban Pits Anonymity Against the Surveillance State, by Naomi Xu Elegant & Grady McGregor
This Oncologist Doesn't Want Another Person to Die from a Cancer That Was Detected Too Late, by Jennifer Alsever
Commentary: The USMCA Could Spur Medical Breakthroughs. Here's How, by Tommy G. Thompson
Melinda Gates' Outrage Prompts a $1 Billion Pledge, by Claire Zillman
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