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Health:Further

Health:Further

Hosted by Marcus Whitney & Vic Gatto

BusinessHealthFitnessInterviews guests
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Episodes

205

Latest episode

Aug 2026

Language

EN

About the show

<p>Every week, healthcare VCs and Jumpstart Health Investors co-founders Vic Gatto and Marcus Whitney review and unpack the happenings in US Healthcare, finance, technology and policy. With a firm belief that our healthcare system is doomed without entrepreneurship, they work through the mud to find the jewels, highlight headwinds and tailwinds, and bring on the smartest guests to fill in the gaps.</p>

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60 recent
October 2, 2026Episode 2101 hr 1 min

210 - Private Markets for Everyone, Grail's FDA Win & the Rise of Consumer AI Agents

In this episode, Marcus and Vic bring the headlines back: why 10-year Treasury yields at their highest level since 2002 signal a fiscal problem healthcare can't ignore, how Trump's agenda has pushed up rates and inflation, Neko Health's $700M bet on whole-body scanning and Precision Neuroscience's $250M Series D, the GLOBE rule's shrinking Medicare savings, the SEC opening private markets to ordinary investors, HHS's push to redesign clinical trials, Cigna's AI-driven savings, UPMC's acquisition of Trinity Health, Epic's pause to focus on cybersecurity, the FDA panel backing Grail's Galleri test, the FTC's probe of OpenAI and Anthropic, and the arrival of consumer AI agents like OpenAI's Dots with insights into market trends, policy changes, and technological innovations shaping the future of health and money. Chapters 0:00 Introduction 2:20 August PCE inflation reading ↳ https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-dow-sp-500-nasdaq-09-30-2026/card/what-to-know-about-today-s-pce-index-YnU6yGlmCpHowo8u4TSP 3:16 US bond yields hit their highest level since 2002 ↳ https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/01/business/bond-yields-10-year-treasury.html 7:28 How Trump's economic moves drove rates and inflation higher ↳ https://www.wsj.com/economy/trump-economy-inflation-jobs-724e4da8 10:15 Neko Health's $700M bet on whole-body scanning ↳ https://techcrunch.com/podcast/the-investor-behind-neko-healths-700m-bet-on-scanning-your-whole-body/ 12:54 Precision Neuroscience's $250M Series D for brain-computer interfaces ↳ https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/precision-neuroscience-taps-250m-series-d-funding-brain-computer-interface 16:29 CMS finalizes the GLOBE rule as projected savings shrink ↳ https://endpoints.news/cms-finalizes-globe-medicare-demo-but-savings-trail-projections/ 20:56 The SEC expands private-market access for ordinary investors ↳ https://www.wsj.com/pro/private-equity/sec-moves-to-give-ordinary-investors-more-access-to-private-equity-d4108681?st=ZNfSmp&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink 23:32 Public market headwinds: Oura's paused IPO and Anthropic's losses ↳ https://www.wsj.com/tech/oura-postpones-ipo-over-market-uncertainty-49d49791 https://decrypt.co/379605/anthropic-lost-42-billion-last-year-wants-ipo-2-trillion 30:40 HHS launches a project to speed up clinical trials ↳ https://www.axios.com/2026/09/30/hhs-clinical-trials-redesign 33:52 Cigna expects $3B in savings from AI and automation ↳ https://www.modernhealthcare.com/insurance/mh-cigna-investor-day-ai-pharmacy 34:30 UPMC acquires CommonSpirit's Trinity Health ↳ https://www.modernhealthcare.com/mergers-acquisitions/mh-upmc-trinity-health-system-commonspirit 35:30 Epic pauses product development to focus on cybersecurity ↳ https://www.modernhealthcare.com/health-tech/mh-epic-systems-pause-product-development-ai 37:15 The FDA panel on Grail's Galleri test and the Medicare question ↳ https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/a-cancer-test-has-investors-betting-big-but-will-insurers-pay-75d3bc60 42:00 The FTC probes OpenAI and Anthropic over AI safety ↳ https://www.axios.com/2026/09/30/ftc-openai-anthropic-ai-safety-investigation 53:01 OpenAI launches Dots and the rise of consumer AI agents ↳ https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/29/openai-launches-dots-its-bubbly-agentic-avatar/ #NationalDebt #BondYields #FiscalDominance #Inflation #Economy #HealthcareCuts #CMS #FDA #Grail #ClinicalTrials #VentureCapital #HealthTechVC #PrivateMarkets #SEC #HealthSystemMandA #Cybersecurity #AI #AISafety #AIAgents #HealthcarePolicy

September 25, 2026Episode 2091 hr 18 min

209 - No Stories, Just Conviction: The Debt, Healthcare Cuts, and What Comes Next

In this episode, Marcus and Vic set the headlines aside for UN General Assembly week and test their worldviews across every theme of the show: why the national debt and fiscal dominance matter more than the Fed, what a multipolar world means for healthcare funding, why neither party can stop the cuts that started with HR1, how AI is reshaping venture capital, the FDA as the administration's bright spot, stablecoin rails as a challenger to claims clearinghouses, the frontier labs' communication and business-model problems, and a friendly debate over whether AI will cost jobs or spark a new wave of entrepreneurship — with insights into market trends, policy changes, and technological innovations shaping the future of health and money. Key Topics Why covering the Fed feels less meaningful in an era of fiscal dominance Debt-to-GDP nearing World War II levels and the cost of debt service UN General Assembly week, diversification, and the shift to a multipolar world Why healthcare rarely talks about the national debt — and why HR1 is just the beginning The Fourth Turning, Ray Dalio's debt cycles, and a coming day of reckoning The midterms, legislative vs. executive power, and why neither party can fix inflation What the Paramount deal says about consolidation and corporate leverage Health systems cutting vendors and what that means for startups AI lowering the capital needed to build a company — and LP-driven mega-funds Impact investing, value-based care, and the timeline problem FDA and CMS policy: the inpatient-only list, value-based care, and telehealth limbo Stablecoin rails and programmatic claims as a shot at healthcare's $1 trillion settlement cost Frontier AI labs, the gain-of-function analogy, and cybersecurity over extinction talk AI and jobs: middle management, entrepreneurship, and community resilience Chapters 0:00 Introduction and episode overview 2:04 The shifting focus on the economy and debt levels 3:59 Geopolitical changes and the move towards a multipolar world 7:51 Healthcare system challenges and policy implications 23:03 Venture capital trends and health tech investments 35:00 Policy updates and regulatory environment in healthcare 38:00 The role of AI and Web3 in industry transformation 53:01 The societal impact of AI and future job markets 1:02:00 Concluding thoughts and future outlooks #NationalDebt #FiscalDominance #Economy #Inflation #Midterms #VentureCapital #HealthTech #Biotech #HealthSystems #CMS #FDA #ValueBasedCare #Telehealth #RevenueCycle #Web3 #Stablecoins #Blockchain #AI #AISafety #FutureOfWork #Entrepreneurship #HealthcarePolicy

September 18, 2026Episode 2081 hr 11 min

208 - Hospital Margins Crater, Half of Hospitals Still Hide Prices, and OpenAI's $1.2T Question

In this episode, we explore Vic's takeaways from Nashville Healthcare Sessions and the OpenAI-HCA partnership, a Fed rate hike to 3.75%-4% under new Chairman Kevin Warsh, a wave of nine-figure health rounds, the hollowing out of hospital margins and price transparency compliance, a potential CRISPR successor called Viper, and OpenAI's $1.2 trillion valuation push amid new AI safety disclosures — with insights into market trends, policy changes, and technological innovations shaping the future of health and money. Key Topics Nashville Healthcare Sessions recap and the OpenAI-HCA partnership Jobless claims fall to 196K, but the labor-force participation rate tells a different story US housing starts slip as affordable inventory stays stuck The Fed raises rates 25bps to 3.75%-4% under new Chairman Kevin Warsh VC Rundown: Thatch hits a $1B valuation, Sling raises $123M, and Evvy raises $40M CMS expands the ACCESS model's chronic conditions for 2027 More than half of hospitals still aren't compliant with price transparency rules Hospital operating margins fall to 1.4% amid outpatient slowdowns The widening mental-health and turnover gap among physicians and Gen Z clinicians Viper: a newly discovered gene-editing system that may outperform CRISPR GSK commits up to $750M for a new multiple myeloma therapy Tokenized securities get a 5-year SEC exemption after the Clarity Act fails in the Senate Circle launches its ARC stablecoin blockchain with BlackRock and Visa OpenAI's new AI safety incidents, its $1.2 trillion valuation push, and the case for AI product liability AI as a co-scientist: accelerating drug discovery at Stanford Chapters 0:00 Introduction — Vic recaps Nashville Healthcare Sessions and the OpenAI-HCA partnership 2:13 Marcus on a loaded week in Nashville — family, civic work, and a strong portfolio 4:21 Jobless claims fall to 196K, but the participation rate tells the real story 6:49 US housing starts slip as affordable inventory stays stuck 8:30 The Fed raises rates 25bps to 3.75%-4% under Chairman Kevin Warsh 12:50 VC Rundown: Thatch secures $108M Series C, hits $1B valuation 14:31 Sling raises $123M Series C for an oral GLP-1 rival 15:03 Evvy raises $40M for vaginal microbiome research 15:55 CMS adds more chronic conditions to the ACCESS model for 2027 17:29 More than half of hospitals still aren't compliant with price transparency rules 21:17 Hospital operating margins fall to 1.4% amid outpatient slowdowns 22:10 The mental-health gap widens between employed and independent physicians 23:19 70% of Gen Z healthcare workers say they'll quit within a year 25:28 Viper: a gene-editing system that may predate — and outperform — CRISPR 27:08 Sickle cell's cure and the case that healthcare's old model is approaching deprecation 31:14 GSK commits up to $750M for Chimeric Biosciences' multiple myeloma drug 32:21 SEC rolls out a 5-year innovation exemption for tokenized securities 34:30 Why the Senate's Clarity Act failed 36:16 Circle launches ARC, a stablecoin blockchain, with BlackRock and Visa 38:54 OpenAI discloses six new AI safety incidents tied to its Astra models 39:50 Astra's misalignment problem — and why Jensen Huang calling it AGI is unsettling 41:54 "Get control of your own models" — the case for AI product liability 43:08 Talking to family about AI risk, and the UL/electricity analogy for AI safety 53:21 Staying patient and clear with people who fear AI amid election-season hype 56:00 Jensen Huang as master communicator — and why the labs need better spokespeople 58:06 OpenAI eyes a $1.2 trillion valuation ahead of a potential IPO 1:01:11 "Who's going to buy this?" — OpenAI's valuation vs. its business model and moat 1:02:16 Open-source models close the gap and erode the frontier labs' moat 1:06:21 AI as a co-scientist: Stanford researchers accelerate drug discovery 1:08:19 Turning the corner — from chronicling healthcare's decline to its ascent 1:08:43 What comes next: allocating a 10,000x increase in care capacity #FederalReserve #Inflation #JobsReport #Housing #VentureCapital #Biotech #CMS #PriceTransparency #HospitalMargins #PhysicianBurnout #GeneEditing #CRISPR #Oncology #Web3 #StablecoinPayments #SEC #AI #OpenAI #AISafety #DrugDiscovery #HealthcarePolicy

September 12, 2026Episode 2071 hr 0 min

207 - Sticky Inflation, Maternity Deserts, Drug Shortages, and AI's Doomsday Headlines

Health:Further — September 10, 2026 In this episode, we explore sticky inflation and the widening cost-of-living gap, a wave of nine-figure biotech rounds, mounting political pressure on AI labs, the hollowing out of hospital service lines, and a Robinhood-chain experiment that turns everyday spending into equity ownership — with insights into market trends, policy changes, and technological innovations shaping the future of health and money. Key Topics Producer price inflation and the Fed's narrowing path to a rate cut Real wage stagnation, housing affordability, and the K-shaped economy ECB rate hike and Europe's economic squeeze Biotech season: three nine-figure rounds in immuno-oncology, rare disease, and pediatric CAR-T Senate scrutiny of OpenAI and the emerging case for AI liability $500 ACA rebate checks and politics ahead of the midterms Medicare drug spending outrunning IRA projections Maternity ward closures and the hollowing out of hospital service lines Providers demanding payment upfront as payer-provider trust erodes Biosimilar pipeline gaps and universal cancer drug shortages Unpaid Ebola workers and the global health funding gap Tokenized equity, Robinhood's distribution advantage, and who owns your AI traces Chapters 00:00 Introduction — Vic at TMC in Houston, Marcus in Mexico City 01:57 Producer price inflation accelerates to 0.4% in August 02:39 Six charts on how Americans really feel about the economy: real wages and housing affordability 07:55 ECB raises its benchmark rate to 2.5% to quell inflation 09:06 VC deal review — biotech season, three nine-figure rounds: 09:33 Solstice raises $225M Series A for next-gen CTLA-4 immunotherapy 10:12 GV-backed Encoded raises $275M Series F for Dravet syndrome asset and manufacturing scale-up 10:32 BrainChild Bio raises $116M Series A for CAR-T in pediatric brain cancer 11:20 OpenAI faces a Senate probe into the Hugging Face breach — and the case for AI liability 16:51 Trump pledges $500 checks to 1 million people for ACA overcharges 18:54 Ominous outlook for Medicare drug spending: lower prices, higher volume 22:16 Half of U.S. hospitals lack maternity wards as Medicaid cuts loom 23:52 Tenet lays off 1,000+ Conifer employees amid CommonSpirit contract breakup 24:53 Why more hospitals and doctors are asking patients to pay first 30:25 Cheap biologic alternatives stall: 90% of brand biologics losing exclusivity have no competitor in development 32:39 100% of cancer centers surveyed have at least one drug in shortage 33:36 Novartis stock slides as the centerpiece of its $12B Avidity buyout flunks phase 3 34:38 Health & Us: unpaid Ebola workers let families touch the dead in the DRC 38:45 Web3: Crumbs, built on Robinhood's chain — tokenized equity from everyday spending 42:47 OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra is shockingly good at almost everything 45:15 OpenAI says it cracked Navier-Stokes — and the credit and training-data controversy behind it 52:04 How Chinese AI firms tried to clone U.S. models: DeepSeek, Moonshot, and distillation allegations 54:13 Anthropic insiders warn AI could kill all humans — and why we're more worried about the humans 59:19 Closing — Nashville Healthcare Sessions next week Hashtags #Inflation #FederalReserve #HealthcarePolicy #ACA #Medicare #Maternity #AI #OpenAI #Anthropic #China #Biotech #Web3 #Tokenization #HealthTech #Pharma

September 9, 2026Episode 20658 min

206 - From Epic & OpenAI to Patent Cliffs, Global Aging, and the Fed’s Outlook

In this episode, we explore the latest developments in economics, healthcare, AI, and Web3, providing insights into market trends, policy changes, and technological innovations shaping the future. Key Topics US jobless claims and economic outlook Federal Reserve's monetary policy and dissenting voices Eurozone inflation and European economic challenges Venture capital deals in healthcare, including Thyme Care's growth AI integration with Epic and healthcare data sources Stable coins and digital currency developments by major banks Impact of demographic shifts on healthcare systems Pharma patent cliffs and biotech industry trends AI advancements in oncology and healthcare applications NVIDIA's strategic moves in AI infrastructure Chapters 00:00 Introduction and episode overview 01:54 US jobless claims and economic outlook 03:30 Federal Reserve's policy signals and dissenting voices 08:51 Eurozone inflation and European economic challenges 10:08 Venture capital deal: Thyme Care's growth and valuation 12:55 AI in healthcare: Yale New Haven's AI coding platform 15:15 Expansion of medical imaging network with Scan.com 17:08 Drug pricing deals and policy updates 18:25 Hospital mergers and FTC's role in healthcare deals 23:35 Payer policies: United Healthcare's prior authorization changes 26:19 Self-pay hospital visits and healthcare economics 30:30 Pharma industry: patent cliffs and biotech trends: Pharma Industry Faces Biggest Patent Cliff in Decades GSK Licenses Hutchmed KRAS-EGFR Cancer Asset 36:46 Demographic shifts: Aging population worldwide 41:01 Web3: Stable coins and banking collaborations: 21 Major Banks Launch Joint USD Stablecoin Consortium Ethena Pay Launches Stablecoin Banking App SoFi Links Traditional Banking Network With Kraken 45:45 AI in healthcare: Epic and ChatGPT integrations 48:07 Specialized AI agents for oncology and healthcare (OpenEvidence) 49:43 NVIDIA's strategic AI infrastructure deals (Anthropic Cloud Deal) 55:23 The economic impact of AI and future outlook 57:45 Closing remarks and next steps

August 29, 2026Episode 20552 min

205 - Meta's $17B Settlement, Pancreatic Cancer Breakthrough and AI Cybersecurity Threats

Vic and Marcus discuss revised jobless claims, Nvidia's continued AI-driven growth, and major developments across healthcare, technology, and policy. They cover Cityblock's acquisition of Homeward Health, new telehealth prescribing rules, Meta's $17.1 billion settlement over teen social media protections, and Medicare overbilling allegations involving Humana-owned Villages Health. The episode also examines cyberattacks affecting medical device companies, a new FDA-approved treatment for pancreatic cancer, Alzheimer's blood testing, diabetes monitoring technology, and concerns about AI transparency in healthcare. They close with Nvidia's reported move to acquire Hugging Face, Stripe's OpenRouter acquisition, and warnings from major technology companies about the growing threat of AI-enabled cyberattacks. Story Lineup 1 — In This Economy 2:32 - Story 1: U.S. Jobless Claims Fall to 203,000; Labor Market Stays Resilient [WSJ] 4:45 - Story 2: Nvidia Reports Record $96.2B Revenue, Projects 70% Growth; AI Spending Boom Intact [WSJ] 7:11 - Story 3: Fed Chair Warsh Faces Pressure at Jackson Hole; Treasury-Fed Boundary Tensions Rise [WSJ] 2 — VC Deal Review 11:15 - Story 1: Cityblock Health Secures $116M Series E, Acquires Homeward Health to Expand Rural Medicare Advantage [MedCity News] 12:24 - Story 2: Onos Health Raises $17M Series A for AI-Driven Behavioral Health Platform [MedCity News] 3 — Policy 13:09 - Story 1: DEA Sends Final Telehealth Prescribing Rule to White House for Review; Would Enable Controlled-Substance Prescribing via Telehealth [Becker's] 14:29 - Story 2 : Meta to Pay up to $17.1 Billion 4 — Health Payors 18:17 - Story 1: Humana's Villages Health Settles Medicare Advantage Billing Fraud for $541.5M Over Fake Diagnosis Codes [Healthcare Dive] 5 — Health Systems 19:43 - Story 1: UPMC Swings to $18.3M Operating Loss in Q2; Insurance Revenue Up, Patient Revenue Flat Signals Margin Pressure [Becker's] 20:27 - Story 2: Boston Scientific Operations Disrupted by Cyberattack; Ordering and Shipping Systems Hit [Healthcare Dive] 6 — Pharma & Novel Therapies 25:26 - Story 1: FDA Approves Daraxonrasib (Rasonque), First RAS Inhibitor for Advanced Pancreatic Cancer—Landmark Breakthrough [WSJ] 26:48 - Story 2: Roche and Eli Lilly Win FDA Clearance for First-of-Its-Kind Alzheimer's Biomarker Blood Test [WSJ] 28:09 - Story 3: Novo Nordisk Shares Fall as Eli Lilly Outcompetes GLP-1 Market; Stock Down 70% from June 2024 Peak [WSJ] 7 — About Health & Us / The Clinician's Voice 30:05 - Story 1: FDA Clears Abbott's First-of-Its-Kind Wearable Ketone Sensor to Detect Diabetic Ketoacidosis Risk [Fierce Biotech] 31:07 - Story 2: Nearly Half of Americans Unaware Whether AI Has Been Used in Their Care, Pew Survey Finds [Healthcare Dive] 37:32 - Story 3: Oura Health Wearable Ring Faces Class-Action Lawsuit Over Sleep-Tracking AI Accuracy Claims [MedCity News] 8 — The AI Tracker 40:10 - Story 1: Nvidia Reportedly Acquiring Hugging Face AI Model Hub for ~$13B; Control Over Open-Source Infrastructure Consolidates [Gizmodo] 41:58 - Story 2 : Stripe Buys A.I Start-Up Open Router 48:41 - Story 3: OpenAI, Microsoft, 100+ Firms Sound Alarm on Imminent AI-Enabled Cyberattack Wave Targeting Hospitals [NYT]

August 22, 2026Episode 2041 hr 0 min

204 - Exercise Pill, Cancer Vaccine, Blood-Draw Robots and the Future of Healthcare

Vic and guest host Paul Kappleman discuss the state of U.S. healthcare under the Trump administration, including access, affordability, hospital closures, consolidation, and the potential rise of Medicare for All. They examine weakening retail sales, interest rates, $40 trillion in U.S. debt, healthcare venture capital, at-home sleep apnea diagnosis, pancreatic cancer screening, primary care, FDA leadership and AI-enabled medical devices, Medicaid asset limits, Costco entering Medicare, Providence Health Plan's exit, and Moderna's personalized cancer vaccine. They also cover an exercise pill, patient access to test results, Bitcoin and the CLARITY Act, robotic blood draws, Epic's AI platform, OpenAI's new protections for teens and enterprise users, and Amazon's expansion of drone delivery. 1 — In This Economy 17:09 - U.S. Retail Sales Fell 0.6% in July to $763.6 Billion, Missing Forecasts for Growth WSJ 17:26 - Fed Minutes Reveal Broader Support for Rate Increases WSJ 17:56 - U.S. Debt Hits $40 Trillion as America’s Borrowing Binge Continues NYT 2 — VC Deal Review 19:58 - Happy Health Snags $75M to Support Home-Based Care MedCity sleep 21:24 - Craif raises $33M to boost work on its urine test for cancer Fierce Healthcare . Urine pancreatic cancer 22:27 - Aligned Marketplace Secures $20M for Advanced Primary Care Marketplace MedCity 3 — Policy 25:05 - Trump Taps Dr. Heidi Overton to Lead FDA NYT 27:18 - FDA: Considerations for the Regulation of Generative AI-Enabled Medical Devices: Discussion Paper and Request for Feedback. Reg.gov 4 — Health Payors 29:25 - Medi-Cal plans brace for ‘devastating’ asset limit crunch Beckers 31:35 - Costco Sells Vacations, Gas and, Soon, Medicare Plans WSJ 33:33 - Providence Health Plan to close completely after Medicare Advantage deal falls through Healthcare Dive 5 — Pharma & Novel Therapies 37:11 - Moderna Shares More Than Double on Success of mRNA Cancer Vaccine WSJ 39:50 - An ‘Exercise Pill’ Just Cleared Its First Human Test Gizmodo 6 — About Health & Us / The Clinician's Voice 41:44 - Nearly 7 in 10 patients view test results before a clinician weighs in: Study Beckers 7 — Web3 45:16 - Bitcoin hits $69,000, ether jumps 10% as Treasury buybacks, SEC crypto proposal fuel market rally The Block 45:51 - Trump pushes Congress to move on Clarity Act during White House crypto event Coindesk 8 — The AI Tracker 48:05 - FDA authorizes 1st-of-its-kind blood draw robot Beckers Video 50:39 - Epic expands AI ambitions with agent platform, Cosmos-powered predictions and workflow automation Fierce Healthcare 54:29 - What Parents Need to Know About OpenAI’s New ChatGPT for Teens WSJ 55:38 - OpenAI’s Latest Bid to Fight Anthropic: A Promise Not to Keep Customer Data WSJ 58:06 - Amazon to Expand Drone Delivery Service to Nearly 500 Locales WSJ

August 17, 2026Episode 20357 min

203 - Unemployment Spikes, Trump Blows Up the Vaccine Schedule & Google Loses Its Top AI Mind

Retail sales fell 0.6% in July. Inflation held steady at 3.4%. Jobless claims jumped to 209,000. Marcus and Vic ask if the Federal Reserve (Fed) still has room to cut rates, or if the job market is the next thing to break. President Trump signed an order to cut back the childhood vaccine schedule and repeated a debunked claim linking vaccines to autism. Medical groups pushed back hard. A federal court also struck down a key pricing rule in the No Surprises Act, which could raise what insurers pay out-of-network doctors. Employers are dropping the three biggest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), and small businesses are bracing for 14% premium hikes in 2027. Biotech kept raising big money. PTC Therapeutics bought a gene therapy out of Sangamo's bankruptcy sale. Epicrispr raised $90 million. Braveheart Bio went public in a deal worth close to $440 million. A new Tufts University study found that artificial intelligence (AI) agents can deliver up to 82 times the return on investment (ROI) in cancer drug trials. Google DeepMind is losing top talent, including Jeff Dean, who is leaving to start his own company. OpenAI is restructuring ahead of a planned public offering. Tether passed its first clean audit from KPMG, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pushed back its crypto rulemaking plan again. Marcus and Vic break down what matters and what's just noise. 00:00 Intro 📊 THE ECONOMY 00:57 Retail Sales Fall 0.6% in July | WSJ ↳ https://www.wsj.com/economy/weak-retail-sales-number-adds-to-softening-economic-data-c047dce9?mod=rss_socialeconomyfeed 02:04 Inflation Holds at 3.4% | WSJ ↳ https://www.wsj.com/economy/central-banking/inflation-federal-reserve-interest-rates-296d1430?mod=rss_socialeconomyfeed 03:01 209,000 File for Unemployment in the Week Through Aug. 8 | WSJ ↳ https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/u-s-jobless-claims-rose-again-last-week-29384997?mod=rss_socialeconomyfeed 💰 VC & BIOTECH DEALS 04:21 Epicrispr Raises $90M for Gene Therapy | Fierce Biotech ↳ https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/epicrispr-bags-90m-rewrite-treatment-rare-muscle-disease 05:10 Vaderis Lands $152M for AKT Inhibitor | Fierce Biotech ↳ https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/vaderis-lands-152m-squeeze-akt-inhibitor-through-phase-3-and-regulatory-approval 06:09 Khartis Launches with $95M Seed | Fierce Biotech ↳ https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/pfizer-chemistry-whiz-debuts-khartis-therapeutics-sights-set-thyroid-eye-disease ⚖️ POLICY 07:17 Trump Signs Vaccine Schedule Order | WSJ ↳ https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/trump-signs-order-to-reduce-childhood-vaccines-repeats-unfounded-autism-link-e9c9651d?mod=rss_socialhealth 09:52 Bill Aims to Protect the 340B Program | MedCity News ↳ https://medcitynews.com/2026/08/340b-drugs-senate/ 🏥 HEALTH PAYORS 14:09 Insurers Seek 14% Premium Hikes for 2027 | Healthcare Dive ↳ https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/small-business-health-insurance-premiums-2027-kff-rate-filings/827247/ 🏨 HEALTH SYSTEMS 16:37 Healthcare Faces a Cybersecurity Crisis | Healthcare Dive ↳ https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/healthcare-cybersecurity-crisis-def-con/827428/ 18:41 HHS Moves to Decertify an Organ Network | Healthcare Dive ↳ https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/hhs-decertify-organ-procurement-group-patient-safety-failures-network-for-hope/827334/ 💊 PHARMA & NOVEL THERAPIES 22:19 PTC Wins Sangamo Gene Therapy in Bankruptcy Auction | MedCity News ↳ https://medcitynews.com/2026/08/ptc-sangamo-therapeutics-bankruptcy-auction-fabry-gene-therapybid-wins-bankruptcy-auction-for-sangamo-gene-therapy-ptct-sgmoq/ 23:29 Braveheart Bio's $440M IPO | MedCity News ↳ https://medcitynews.com/2026/08/braveheart-bio-ipo-obstructive-hcm-myosin-inhibitor-cardiomyopathy-brve/ 🩺 HEALTH & WELLNESS 24:39 Health Nerds Feed Data to AI Chatbots | WSJ ↳ https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/the-datamaxxers-feeding-their-every-health-move-to-ai-df0af9b5?mod=rss_Technology 🪙 WEB3 28:58 Tether Passes First Clean Audit | The Block ↳ https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-08-13-tether-kpmg-first-full-audit-usdt-clean-opinion-411760 32:48 SEC Delays Crypto Rules Again | CoinDesk ↳ https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/08/13/sec-cancels-long-awaited-proposal-of-reg-crypto-postponing-meeting-without-new-date 🤖 THE AI TRACKER 34:58 Google DeepMind Loses Jeff Dean | The Verge ↳ https://www.theverge.com/podcast/979370/google-deepmind-ai-race-lose-jeff-dean-demis-hassabis 39:59 OpenAI Restructures Before IPO | Axios ↳ https://www.axios.com/2026/08/14/openai-executive-greg-brockman-ipo 42:21 Gemini vs. GPT: The Speed Race | Decrypt ↳ https://decrypt.co/375580/google-openai-super-fast-ai-models-gemini-flash-gpt-ultrafast 47:26 Grok Bot Launches | x.ai ↳ https://x.ai/news/introducing-grok-bot ----------------- more at healthfurther.com

August 8, 2026Episode 20249 min

202 - AI Inflection, Payer Chaos, and the Healthcare Energy Bind | Health:Further

Vic and Marcus discuss the yen carry trade and its implications for the Federal Reserve, the rapid transformation of the U.S. economy by AI, and the growing risks surrounding AI investment and infrastructure. They cover major healthcare and biotech funding, including LifeMine Therapeutics, Function Health, and Quant Health, along with the Senate confirmation of Dr. Erica Schwartz as CDC director and a 2.3% Medicare hospital payment increase for 2027. The episode also examines CVS Health's GLP-1 partnership with Eli Lilly, Amazon's $50-a-month GLP-1 offering for Medicare patients, rising numbers of uninsured Americans, and a potential AstraZeneca-Bristol Myers Squibb merger. They also discuss extreme heat's growing impact on Americans, rising heart disease rates among younger women, patients using AI to interpret medical results, DeepSeek's dramatically lower AI costs, AI models behaving deceptively during testing, and the accelerating path toward recursive self-improvement and AGI. Story Lineup 1 — In This Economy 1:30 - Story 1: https://www.wsj.com/economy/central-banking/scott-bessents-yen-trade-has-unintended-consequences-for-the-markets-5297044b?mod=Searchresults&pos=1&page=1 6:57 - Story 2: The AI Boom Is Transforming the American Economy—and Healthcare Must Contend With Energy Constraints [WSJ] 2 — VC Deal Review 15:36 - Story 1: LifeMine Therapeutics Raises $188M Series E From Gates and Bezos to Revive Fungal-Therapeutic Platform [Fierce Biotech] 16:23 - Story 2: Function Health Raises $450M Growth Round to Expand Preventive Care Lab and Imaging Footprint [MedCity News] 17:48 - Story 3: QuantHealth Raises $45M Series B to Reduce Pharma Trial Failure via AI Clinical-Trial Simulation [MedCity News] 3 — Policy 20:30 - Story 1: Senate Confirms Dr. Erica Schwartz as CDC Director in Party-Line Vote; First Permanent Director in Year [Becker's Hospital Review] 22:17 - Story 2: Hospital Price Caps Gain Momentum Across Multiple States, Making Affordability a CEO Accountability Issue [Becker's Hospital Review] 4 — Health Payors 23:37 - Story 1: CVS Health Partners With Eli Lilly on GLP-1 Weight Management, Lifts Full-Year Outlook on Strong Health Plan Results [WSJ] 24:11 - Story 2: Amazon Pharmacy Now Offers GLP-1 Weight-Loss Drugs to Medicare Part D Beneficiaries at $50/Month [WSJ] 5 — Health Systems 25:25 - Story 1: ACA Subsidy Expiration Drives Millions Uninsured; Hospitals Report Rising Uncompensated Care and Revenue Losses [WSJ] 6 — About Health & Us / The Clinician's Voice 28:36 - Story 1: 90% of Americans Report Extreme Heat Affecting Their Health and Daily Life; Major Shift in Climate-Health Awareness [Axios] 31:46 - Story 2: Rising Cardiovascular Disease Among Young Women Examined; Prevention Strategies and Risk-Profile Shifts Discussed [New York Times] 33:05 - Story 3: One-Third of Adults Now Use AI to Interpret Medical Test Results Despite Physician Objections [WSJ] 7 — The AI Tracker 34:35 - Story 1: https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/deepseeks-new-ai-model-is-by-far-cheapest-well-known-models-run-research-firm-2026-08-03/ 37:44 - Story 2: OpenAI and Anthropic AI Agents Engaged in Sustained Hacking Attempts on Real Infrastructure; U.K. AI Security Institute Reports Deceptive Behavior During Safety Testing [WSJ] 41:17 - Story 3: Leading AI Architects Declare Singularity Threshold Reached; Google Signals Major Leadership Rupture as Industry Enters Intelligence-Explosion Phase [Axios]

August 1, 2026Episode 20159 min

201 - Google's Humanoid AI, Medicare Drug Subsidy Ends, Microsoft and Amazon Cloud Surge

Vic and Marcus discuss the return of Trump's tariffs, the Federal Reserve's evolving approach under Chairman Warsh, and the continued strength of AI infrastructure as Microsoft and Amazon report surging cloud growth. They cover major healthcare funding rounds, including AI revenue cycle management, vision therapies, and an AI-powered smart toilet for early disease detection. The episode also examines FTC action against Hims & Hers, the end of Medicare drug plan subsidies, Medicaid work requirement rulings, payer earnings, ACA market instability, rising uninsured rates, hospital consolidation, biotech acquisitions, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, new wearable health monitoring technology, blockchain adoption across finance, AI agents handling payments, AI safety legislation, and Google's latest humanoid robotics advances.cognitive decline remind us that prevention and early detection remain the frontier of clinical care. Story Lineup 1 — In This Economy 00:33 - Story 1: Healthcare Faces 100% Drug Tariff Shock Starting July 31 [Becker's Hospital Review] 8:54 - Story 2: Fed Holds Rates Steady but Internal Split Signals Future Pressure on Inflation [WSJ] 13:13 - Story 3: Microsoft Azure Exceeds $100B as Tech Giants Diverge on AI Spending ROI [WSJ] 2 — VC Deal Review 14:29 - Story 1: Candid Health Raises $120M Series D for AI-Powered Revenue Cycle Management [MedCity News] 16:49 - Story 2: Claris Biotech Emerges with $118M Series B for Corneal Disease Therapy [Fierce Biotech] 18:03 - Story 3: Throne Science Raises $10M Series A for AI Toilet Sensor in Colorectal Cancer Screening [MedCity News] 3 — Policy 20:22 - Story 1: FTC Sues Hims & Hers Over Illegal Data Sharing With Meta and Snapchat [Gizmodo] 22:59 - Story 2: CMS Ends Medicare Drug Plan Premium Subsidies; Seniors Face Higher 2027 Costs [WSJ.com: Health] 26:57 - Story 3: Federal Court Upholds Medicaid Work Rules; Policy Shift Takes Effect [Becker's Hospital Review] 4 — Health Payors 28:07 - Story 1: Cigna Raises 2026 Outlook on Strong Q2 Employer Plan Growth; $1.7B Profit [Becker's Hospital Review] 28:54 - - Story 2: "Back On Track" Centene Swing more than $1B in Profit in Q2 30:50 - Story 3: Humana Maintains Adjusted Earnings Outlook, Underwhelming Investors 31:44 - Story 4: Humana Retreats From Lower-Margin Medicare Advantage Plans Ahead of 2027 [Healthcare Dive - Latest News] 32:50 - Story 5: ICHRA Adoption Slowed by ACA Exchange Instability and Affordability Concerns [Healthcare Dive] 5 — Health Systems 34:09 - Story 1: Hospital Uninsured Patient Volume Surges After ACA Subsidy Cliff [NYT] 36:27 - Story 2: 29 Large Health Systems Announce M&A: Consolidation Boom Driven by Scale and Capital Access [Becker's Hospital Review] 6 — Pharma & Novel Therapies 38:39 - Story 1: J&J Partners With Sail Biomedicines on In Vivo CAR-T Therapy; $785M Upfront, $2.85B Acquisition Option [MedCity News] 39:57 - Story 2: Argenx Acquires Forte Biosciences for $2B; CD122 Antibody Targets Autoimmune Orphans [MedCity News] 7 — About Health & Us / The Clinician's Voice 41:12 - Story 1: DRC Ebola Outbreak Now Second-Deadliest Ever; 1,500+ Deaths in Record-Breaking Two Months [The New York Times] 42:44 - Story 2: Smart Ring Sensors Track Nutrition and Insulin Response via Finger Sweat; New Biomarker Frontier [Gizmodo] 8 — Web3 44:21 - Story 1: BNY Mellon Targets $8.6 Trillion Transfer Agency Market via Blockchain; Major Traditional Finance Adoption [CoinDesk] 45:33 - Story 2: Institutional Crypto Trading Hits Record 72% as Wall Street Dampens Market Volatility [CoinDesk] 47:59 - Story 3: MoonPay Embe...

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