After a series of abortive attempts to tiptoe into the health business the technology giants are finding their feet at last
The prize is gigantic. Health care consumes 18% of GDP in America, equivalent to $3.6trn a year. In other rich countries the share is lower, around 10%, but rising as populations age. The pandemic has made people more comfortable with online services, including digitally mediated care. Venture capitalists detect a sector that is uniquely ripe for disruption. CB Insights, a data provider, estimates that investments in digital-health startups nearly doubled in 2021, to $57bn .
The technology giants are also injecting health-related services into their cloud-based data-crunching offerings. To that end Microsoft paid $20bn last year for Nuance, an AI firm. Amazon Web Services, the e-emporium’s cloud arm, has also launched a health-care offering. Oracle, an increasingly cloud-based business-software firm, is finalising an acquisition of Cerner, a health-IT group for $28bn.
Another, more sophisticated area experiencing rapid growth is at-home diagnostics. The Theranos scandal gave consumer diagnostics a bad name. Now better technology and greater realism about what it can achieve are rehabilitating the field, just as the pandemic has accustomed people to the idea of home-testing.
Other companies, especially those with higher-tech offerings, are treading carefully. Manny Montalvo, who oversees “Digihaler” sales at Teva, insists it is not a consumer product. “This is still medicine and the right medicine has to be selected for the patient,” he says categorically. Apple sought clearance from America’s Food and Drug Administration for its new watch’s ECG function.
Österreich Neuesten Nachrichten, Österreich Schlagzeilen
Similar News:Sie können auch ähnliche Nachrichten wie diese lesen, die wir aus anderen Nachrichtenquellen gesammelt haben.
Covid: Fact-checking the doctor who challenged the health secretaryAn intensive-care doctor challenged the health secretary over mandatory vaccination - are his claims right?
Weiterlesen »
Covid: Fact-checking the doctor who challenged the health secretaryDr Steve James said hospital staff in the UK should not be required to have Covid jabs, in part because the vaccines were not having a significant effect reducing transmission.
Weiterlesen »
Ofcom Warns ITV To Take ‘Greater Care’ After Broadcasting Inaccurate Vaccine Data'We have told ITV that greater care should be taken by trusted medical experts when presenting facts and figures on public health issues.'
Weiterlesen »
China’s online nationalists turn paranoia into clickbaitDelegitimising critics with foreign links is useful. Anti-foreign paranoia has become a nasty but profitable game
Weiterlesen »