This is the web version of Brainstorm Health Daily, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the top health care news. To get it delivered daily to your in-box, sign up here.
Color (the health tech and precision genomics firm), is ramping up its ambitions. And it’s getting a boost from a $75 million funding round led by T. Rowe Funds and Viking Global Investors, the company tells Fortune.
“This raise is driven by a big step up in our business (more than a seven-times contract growth) with improved profitability, so we are focusing on scaling what is now a sustainable business and continuing to develop our platform,” Color CEO Othman Laraki tells Fortune in an interview.
“This strategy is what played out in 2019—focusing on using genetics not just for selling tests for tests’ sake,” he continued.
Color has been trying to differentiate itself from other digital health firms, and particularly those with a focus on the genetic testing space, by pointing out how much value it places on genetic counselors. The company has won grants in a collaboration with the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) “All of Us” initiative, which seeks to provide de-identified genetic and health data, and software solutions, from one million people to the federal government. And linking people with counselors is a key part of the strategy.
Color declined to comment on the record about the valuation associated with the $75 million funding round. (It was also a bit coy about whether or not there are IPO plans in the near future, alas.)
The firm does has a relationship with Apple (some employees at the tech giant can receive free genetic tests).
Much of this coincides with with ongoing JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco this week. Stay tuned.
Read on for the day’s news.
Sy Mukherjee
sayak.mukherjee@fortune.com
@the_sy_guy
DIGITAL HEALTH
Livongo, Dexcom partner up on a major diabetes initiative. Consolidation is the name of the game in health care. And digital health is no exception. Case in point: Livongo (a diabetes-and-chronic-condition focused firm we've covered many a time) and Dexcom (a more long-standing med tech-focused firm we've covered many a time) are teaming up. The collaboration will link Dexcom's continuous glucose monitors for diabetes with Livongo's platform for patients. Basically, this is adding more ammunition to Livongo's underlying health data platform by giving it, well, more health data.
INDICATIONS
AbbVie gets a boost for its followup to the world's most lucrative drug. AbbVie is likely cheering results from a new study that bodes well for its historically best-selling drug. With generic competition for Humira, a $20 billion per year phenom, expected just around the corner in 2023, AbbVie wants to pump up its portfolio (and particularly in the inflammatory disease space that Humira has dominated for nearly two decades). Well, AbbVie's hopeful Humira successor Skyrizi whooped a competitor from Swiss drug giant Novartis, according to the company. (FiercePharma)
THE BIG PICTURE
The Affordable Care Act takes political center stage, again—but with a twist. The debate over U.S. health care policy continues to roll on in increasingly confusing ways. Here's a simplified version of what's happening: The Trump administration and House Republicans are suing to repeal the entirety of the law; Democratic attorneys-general are asking the Supreme Court to immediately take up this disputed case; and the administration has asked for the Supreme Court to not take up the case until after the 2020 election (although it is still pushing for repeal of the entire law). Here's a more detailed explainer on what's going on.
REQUIRED READING
WeWork Is Hitting the Brakes in New York and London, by Bloomberg
California Labor Law Pushes Uber to Change Fare Structure and App Features, by Lizette Chapman
7 Companies Founded in the Last 10 Years That You Now Can't Live Without, by McKenna Moore and Ross Kohan
Would You Share Your Salary With a Friend? Should You? by Kristen Bellstrom
