Erin Brodwin

Elon Musk’s Neuralink raises fresh cash at $9B valuation The company, which implants experimental brain chips to help paralyzed patients, raised $600 million from private investors, people familiar with the matter said.

interesting. it was reported today that Neuralink raised $600m, a tad over the $500m is was rumored to be raising back in April, but the story doesn't name the investors. anyone know who's involved here? www.semafor.com/article/05/2...

PS: I don't do group texts with sources.

excited to announce I'll officially be spending more time diving deep into the stories shaping the future of healthtech. tldr: my purview's no longer limited to stories w/ a deal element. (but keep deal news coming!) if you're building, investing in, analyzing, or advising in this space, let's talk!

Exclusive: Male birth control maker raising $20M to develop "Plan A" Next Life Sciences is based in San Luis Obispo, California.

scoop: Next Life Sciences is looking to raise $20M to further develop male contraceptive product Plan A.

the San Luis Obispo company is courting investors and hopes to close the round by this June to power early feasibility trials in Australia and Canada and to prep for a 2027 U.S. FDA submission.

General Catalyst goes to Washington

this headline appears to suggest the other VC firms aren't *already* in Washington... www.politico.com/newsletters/...

Navajo Code Talkers get "DEI" label as military info disappears under Trump order Also vanishing: The Civil War regiment from "Glory," women pilots from WWII and a Medal of Honor winner.

Exclusive: Navajo Code Talkers disappear from military websites after Trump DEI order

I've gotten a lot of good feedback about this story — if there's more to share, pls contact me on Signal at @erin.14 or via email at erinbecca@proton.me.

calling all San Diegans: Join me this Friday at 9am for an event about the challenges in today’s pain treatment landscape and the current state of pain, featuring Stanford University’s Beth Darnall. what smart Qs should I ask her? theprognosisforamericaspainmanagement.splashthat.com/newsletters

Andrew Tate receives warm welcome from UFC’s Dana White at weekend events The Tate brothers — who are under criminal investigation in Florida and charged with human trafficking in Romania — attended UFC 313 and Power Slap 12 events.

Board member of Meta hugs it out with Andrew Tate, well known heinous person www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...

Sadly unsurprising

Inside Memora's surprise fire sale to Commure Investors and former employees had thought the patient navigation company was a roaring success, Axios has learned.

www.axios.com/pro/health-t... beep

Francis Collins, the NIH Director for 12 years, led the Human Genome Project and other NIH efforts for 32 years, resigned today. Key words from his resignation letter
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/u...

General Catalyst is in the early stages of considering an IPO GC would be the first U.S. venture capital firm to take the public plunge.

www.axios.com/2025/02/28/g... boop

Screenshot showing before and after text from Pfizer’s website. The highlighted changes remove references to diversity and delete links to organizations that represent historically underrepresented populations.

Yesterday I caught Pfizer making some telling changes to their DEI page. @elaineywchen.bsky.social tried to get the company to explain, but they only gave her a generic statement.

Judge for yourself, we’ve got all the edits here, annotated:

www.statnews.com/2025/02/27/p...

The first measles death in the US in a decade -- the tragic, preventable death of a child whose parents chose not to protect them with vaccination -- should spark an immediate nation-wide campaign to ensure all children are protected against preventable diseases. Anything less is unconscionable.

Breaking: FDA's March meeting to select flu shot strains for 2025-2026 season has been canceled per email sent to committee members, a VRBPAC member told me. drug companies need about 6 months leeway to make shots in time for fall vax campaigns. #healthpolicy

My colleagues and I have been working to break news + write stories holding powerful people accountable.

These are the top stories on our homepage right now, one of which I worked on.

Our newsroom work is continuing.

No one has ever told me what to write. If that changes, I’d speak out and leave.

Exclusive: NIH appears to archive policy requiring female animals in studies Such a shift would “put us back in the dark ages in terms of our science,” says neuroscientist Anne Murphy, who helped to formulate the original policy.

Important! Fantastic story by @claudia-lopez.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/policy/exclu...

I heard a ski instructor tell a little kid on a ski lift recently "it's not win-lose. it's win-learn." and I think I'm just going to have to accept that as my slogan for 2025

Teen Mental Health App Sent Kids' Data Straight to TikTok The company removed tracking tools from its teen-focused websites in New York, Seattle, and Baltimore after parents complained.

Talkspace, which NYC paid $26M to provide free online therapy to teens, was leaking data about who visited the website to TikTok, Meta, Snap, and other social media companies that the city is currently suing for harming teen mental health. gizmodo.com/teen-mental-...

Opinion | American Science is Under Attack (Gift Article) The Trump administration hobbles research and endangers the public health.

Excellent piece from PLOS co-founder and Nobel laureate, Harold Varmus: "If the attacks on our scientists and their institutions are allowed to continue, our envisioned future of longer, healthier lives will happen more slowly, in other countries, or not at all."
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/o...

important note for anyone interested in healthcare: FDA cleared *does not* mean FDA approved. FDA clearance can simply mean the agency is allowing you to advertise and sell your product. in many cases, it simply means a product is "substantially equivalent" to other cleared products.

“This is a parallel overlaying of authority over the entire structure of the U.S. government.“

Scoop: General Catalyst, now a hospital owner, is setting up shop in Ohio The moves mark the beginning of the firm's work using Summa Health as a test bed for its tech tools.

Scoop: With its unprecedented hospital deal officially closed, General Catalyst is setting up shop in Ohio. www.axios.com/pro/health-t...

for this story, I interviewed leaders at UC Davis, Kaiser, Providence, and UCSF. all who'd share said they were using tools from just two companies: Abridge and Microsoft. that's despite dozens of AI scribe companies attracting a total of $800M — in just 2024.

Health systems see scribes as the real AI revolution Notoriously technophobic hospitals are jumping to adopt tools from Big Tech companies and Silicon Valley startups alike.

new: racing to combat burnout, health systems are flocking to technology at an unprecedented pace as they test and trial AI medical scribes. with investors flooding the zone, the landscape is primed for a massive shakeout. www.axios.com/pro/health-t...

So sorry to hear this.

DATA! 📊 Health care policy analyst @charlesgaba.com has downloaded the entire CDC site. Access it below.

Scoop: Medical record giant Epic making more accessible with Apple, after years of friction “Epic does have development underway to make it easier for physicians to access Epic on Macs"

www.axios.com/pro/health-t...