Health AI in the 2nd Week of February

Oxailis (UK): Launched OxNNet, an AI tool using standard ultrasound to measure placental perfusion without contrast, aiming to double detection of fetal growth restriction. [Link]

Luffu (US): Created by Fitbit’s founders, this platform pivots from passive tracking to active "guardian" AI for family care. It monitors health routines for aging parents to flag clinically meaningful changes rather than just logging steps. [Link]

Epic Systems (US): Released "AI Charting," a built-in feature that uses ambient listening to draft clinical notes directly in the EHR. The company also reported that its "Insights" summarization tool is now used over 16 million times monthly, highlighting the rapid adoption of its native AI suite. [Link]

The Rx Assistant (US): Debuted a 24/7 AI concierge to automate medication access and prior authorizations. The hub uses voice and SMS to assist the nearly one-third of Americans who leave prescriptions unfilled due to cost and system complexity. [Link]

GE HealthCare (Global): Unveiled SIGNA Sprint (AI-powered 1.5T MRI) and Photonova Spectra at the World Health Expo. The systems leverage deep learning to enhance tissue characterization and diagnostic precision. [Link]

Government of Canada: Introduced Bill S-5 ("Connected Care for Canadians Act") to mandate health data standards and ban vendor "data blocking," connecting fragmented medical records nationwide. [Link]

NICE (UK): Launched the National HealthTech Access Programme, selecting AI tools for prostate and breast cancer as the first focus. [Link]

World Health Organization (Global): A debate on "data sovereignty" regarding AI regulation erupted at the Executive Board meeting. Low-to-middle-income nations warned against the "harvesting" of health data by international companies to train AI models, fearing it will widen global health gaps. [Link]

FDA (US): The Quality Management System Regulation (QMSR) officially took effect, harmonizing US standards with ISO 13485. This forces medical device manufacturers to align their quality controls and risk management with stricter international benchmarks. [Link]

Doximity (US): Released a blind head-to-head evaluation (n=1,315) comparing its DoxGPT tool against OpenEvidence and ChatGPT. [Link]

Washington University in St. Louis (US): Validated a "Continuous AI Severity Scoring" model for AMD at the Angiogenesis 2026 meeting. The deep learning model uses temporal OCT data to predict disease progression on a continuous scale rather than discrete stages. [Link]

Anthropic x Allen Institute (US): Partnered to deploy the Claude model as an "agentic" lab assistant. The collaboration aims to have AI plan experiments and analyze multi-modal biological data, moving beyond simple text generation. [Link]

Cognizant x Palantir (US): Formed an alliance to deploy Palantir’s governance-heavy AI platform into healthcare operations. The focus is on scaling AI workflows securely within highly regulated healthcare environments. [Link]

Takeda x Iambic Therapeutics (Japan/US): Signed a $1.7B strategic partnership to use Iambic’s "NeuralPLexer" generative model. The deal focuses on predicting protein-ligand complexes to accelerate small-molecule discovery. [Link]

Pasito (US): Landed $21M to bring agentic AI to employee benefits. The system automates the complexity of plan selection and claims, claiming 98% accuracy in plan construction. [Link]

Lotus Health AI (US): Secured $35M to scale its "AI Primary Care" model. It operates as a licensed medical practice where AI handles diagnostics and a human physician validates orders. [Link]

Biorce (Spain): Raised $52M to create an AI-native clinical trial platform. The system uses historical trial data to simulate protocols, aiming to reduce costly amendments and recruitment delays. [Link]

Galux (South Korea): Raised $29M to advance its protein design platform. The funding follows validation that their AI-generated protein structures match experimental cryo-EM data. [Link]

Traumasoft (US): Acquired Huly, an AI platform for EMS billing. The acquisition targets the high rejection rates in ambulance billing, using AI to automate pre-billing compliance checks. [Link]