Healthtech startup Lottie is raising £ 2.5 million for the social care platform
UK healthtech startup Lottie has announced £ 2.5m in funding from Kindred Capital VC, bringing the company’s valuation to £ 28m.
Lottie’s website collects data and intelligence to help users find the most suitable UK nursing homes at a fair price.
The new funding will go into improving the company’s digital platform and developing new data products to support key sector stakeholders including government, investors, lenders and developers.
Lottie Co-Founder Chris Donnelly said, “The healthcare industry is maybe ten years behind all other modern industries in terms of innovation, and with Lottie we want to solve old industry problems.”
Researchers are testing video game that identifies cognitive impairments
Researchers at Kings College London are testing a technology that uses video games to detect early signs of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
The software, called Thymia, monitors a user’s voice, eye movements, and tiny “micro-expressions” while they play simple games.
The data from the games is then used to identify signs of cognitive impairment. Tests of the software with NHS patients are slated to begin in the summer.
The co-founder and CEO of Thymia said Dr. Emilia MolimpakisThe Sunday telegraph: “This means that we will be able to spot early signs of these conditions and monitor how they worsen.”
Family doctor who advised on controversial NHS data exchange plans receives Damehood
The Chair of the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges, Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, was honored with a lady on the UK New Years Honor List.
The former Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) was recognized for her contributions to general practice.
Last year, Stokes-Lampard was hired by the government to advise on the launch of NHS Digital’s controversial GP data exchange project.
The program, which was originally supposed to start in July, was initially postponed to September and eventually ended after criticism from activists, the British Medical Association (BMA) and the RCGP.
A third of worried UK pharmaceutical companies ignore non-COVID diseases
Data from YouGov and Informa Pharma Intelligence captured adult perceptions of innovation in the pharmaceutical industry in the UK.
The study found that 50% of respondents believe COVID has accelerated the pace of innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, but 32% are concerned that researchers are pushing other major drug innovations into the background.
Also, 34% said their knowledge of how vaccines are developed, distributed and approved has increased since the pandemic began. However, only 27% understood what mRNA vaccines are and how they work.
Informa Pharma Intelligence’s Thought Leadership Director Daniel Chancellor said, “Over the past two decades, the number of treatments developed using RNA technology has grown slowly but is not well known outside of the scientific community. The pandemic has changed that as both industrial and public recognition of the new class of vaccine has increased, and the mRNA pipeline itself has tripled since 2019 to become one of the hottest areas in drug development. “
