IBM Watson partners with Novartis for breast cancer treatment
Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis has entered into what it calls a "first-of-its-kind collaboration" with IBM Watson to advance expertise in breast cancer care. Novartis will employ IBM Watson’s data analytics and machine learning capacities to mine its archive of breast cancer compounds and real world patient information, with the aim of establishing which combinations and sequences lead to optimal outcomes.

Novartis and IBM Watson are working together on a new initiative to improve cancer care. In what the pharmaceutical company called a “first-of-its-kind collaboration, the two will use IBM Watson’s cognitive computing tools to leverage Novartis’s portfolio of breast cancer compounds and real-world patient data. The goal is to use data analytics and machine learning to determine which combinations and sequences drive the best outcomes.

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GreatCall, the San Diego company that started out making smartphones for seniors in 2006 but now offers a suite of connected safety products for aging in place individuals, was acquired by Chicago-based private equity firm GTCR.

"The business services team has been focused on this PERS world for the better part of a decade, looking for the option with a reasonable price point and a reasonable valuation from the seller’s perspective," GTCR Managing Director Lawrence Fey told MobiHealthNews. "After a decade of swings and misses we’ve finally found one. It happens to be one of the largest in the space and, we think, the best run." More

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The Mayo Clinic and 2bPrecise, the cloud-based precision medicine platform, have inked a technology licensing agreement and also announced a research collaboration to develop genomics-based care protocols. Using the 2bPrecise platform and the Mayo Clinic’s electronic phenotyping algorithms and clinical expertise, the two hope to apply those protocols to research in patients with cardiovascular genetic disease.

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Boston-based nonprofit T1D Exchange, which is solely focused on spurring innovation and research in type 1 diabetes, is now working with artificial pancreas technology provider Admetsys. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but T1D Exchange will allocate resources to continue the development of Admetsys’ Automated Insulin Delivery (AID) system for hospital use. The technology, which has been used in three clinical trials, uses a standard IV to draw a small blood sample every few minutes, measure glucose levels and return the blood back to the patient. From there, Admetsys creates a computational model to direct insulin dosages from syringe pumps.

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Zynx Health, a clinical decision support company, has teamed up with EHR cloud company iCare to bring evidence-based content into post-acute care.

"Our partnership with iCare will help providers enhance the delivery of patient care through better care coordination and better awareness and adherence to evidence-based standards," Zynx Health President Kevin Daly said in a statement. "This relationship is also significant for Zynx because iCare is the first vendor to make our offerings available to providers in the post-acute care market. Furthermore, iCare will be our first partner to consume data via our new FHIR-standard API, which supports real-time maintenance and updates."