StartUPDATES: New developments in health startups

Oral genome is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Shuman as Chief Revenue Officer. Shuman brings extensive experience leading high-growth organizations in the dental industry, most recently serving as CEO of Membersy, where he helped build a national footprint and drive business performance.

In his new role, Shuman will oversee business strategy, company growth and expansion of dental partnerships to accelerate adoption of Oral Genome’s saliva-based rapid tests nationally.

“We are thrilled to welcome Michael to Oral Genome,” said Dr. Tina Saw, Founder and CEO. “His experience driving transformational growth aligns perfectly with our mission to bring preventative testing to every dental practice.”

“What attracted me to Oral Genome was the mission of enabling providers to detect preventable problems before they occur,” says Michael Shuman, CRO. “I have spent my career helping dental organizations modernize the way they deliver value to patients, and Oral Genome represents the next evolution of that journey. By combining clinical knowledge with scalable technology, we are creating a path for every practice to play a proactive role in early detection and whole-body health. I am excited to help expand access and adoption in healthcare organizations nationwide.”

About the oral genome

Oral Genome is a health technology company pioneering saliva testing for oral and systemic health. Its mission is to advance preventive care by making testing rapid, accessible and effective for everyone.

Heptaa biotech startup using transformer-based AI to detect organ-specific chronic disease signals, has emerged from stealth with $6.7 million in seed funding, according to a press release. Felicis Ventures and Illumina Ventures led the funding round. SeaX Ventures, Alumni Ventures and AME Cloud Ventures also participated. The company was founded by former executives from Illumina, Grail and Google who are applying technological, genomic and commercial know-how from their liquid biopsy work to chronic diseases.

Hamed Amini, co-founder and CEO of Hepta, explained his approach to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).

“Our team, which developed next-generation sequencing technologies at Illumina and built and scaled the first generation of liquid biopsy platforms at Grail, has now demonstrated that a simple blood draw can reproduce biology at the tissue level. This establishes a foundation for non-invasive diagnostics that can guide precision therapies in chronic diseases, starting with MASH, a systemic metabolic disease and global epidemic affecting tens of millions of people in the United States alone, where Access to care is tragically limited by invasive, outdated or highly specialized detection tools, our platform has the potential as a single source to guide therapy and monitor response.

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Amaé Healtha public benefit corporation focused on serious mental illness, has raised $25 million in early Series B funding to transform the way serious mental illness is understood, treated and cured, according to a press release. Altos Ventures led the round with participation from all existing investors, including Quiet Capital, Bling Capital, Cedars-Sinai Ventures, Healthier Capital and 8VC.

The new funding will be used to support the opening of Amae clinics nationwide, advance its proprietary AI-based care platform, and support research into schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and treatment-resistant depression. It will also strengthen partnerships with academic medical centers to expand access to Amae’s integrated care model.

“Serious mental illnesses devastate families and communities, but traditional treatment models have failed to make a difference,” said Stas Sokolin, co-founder and CEO of Amae Health. “We are taking a different path: combining compassionate, in-person care with responsibly deployed AI that helps clinicians determine the best solution for each individual. »

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Helexa therapeutic company developing a new class of targeted drugs for genetic kidney diseases, has raised an oversubscribed $3.5 million seed round, according to a press release. Investor pi Ventures led the round with participation from Bluehill Capital, SOSV and a global syndicate of investors. Helex has raised more than $6 million in total to date.

‍Helex aims to transform the treatment of chronic and rare kidney disorders by developing programmable, non-viral lipid nanoparticles that deliver a therapeutic payload directly to kidney cells. This approach opens the door to a new class of targeted disease-modifying drugs for millions of patients who currently have no effective treatment options.

‍Its lead program targets autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, an inherited disease caused by mutations in the PKD1 or PKD2 genes. This disease affects more than 12 million people worldwide, leading to the progressive formation of kidney cysts and a decline in kidney function. Patients with ADPKD ultimately face dialysis or kidney transplantation. Helex aims to change that with a single-dose, non-viral gene editing-based therapy that could stop or significantly slow the progression of the disease.

To find out more, click here.

Picture: J Studios, Getty Images

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