alphabet Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

SandboxAQ, bearing Alphabet’s DNA, eyes quantum-inspired breakthroughs in drug discovery

[Sakkmesterke/Adobe Stock]

Emerging as a spinoff from Alphabet’s experimental division X, SandboxAQ recently pulled back the curtain on its latest endeavor — the biopharma molecular simulation division AQBioSim. Attracting investments from significant figures like former Alphabet CEO Eric Schmidt, who is now the chair of Sandbox AQ, and Salesforce.com Inc. founder Marc Benioff’s Time Ventures investment fund. Other backers include T. Rowe Price, Guggenheim Partners and Breyer Capital.

Now, AQBioSim aims to streamline the research and development process with quantum-inspired computing, potentially contributing to the development of treatments for critical diseases, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The company says its technology could shave years off the discovery process.

Earlier this year, SandboxAQ, raised $500 million in funding, aiming to equip businesses with the neces…

Verily receives $1B investment led by Alphabet, promotes president to corner office

Google’s (NSDQ:GOOGL) Verily announced today that it received a $1 billion investment led by parent company Alphabet.

South San Francisco, California-based Verily plans to use the funds to expand its businesses focused on precision health. New capital will go toward a variety of its core initiatives.

Those include real-world evidence generation, healthcare data, research and care and the underlying technology, Verily said. The company will also consider further investment in strategic partnerships, global business development and potential acquisitions.

During a recent DeviceTalks Weekly podcast, investor and advisor Steve Oesterle, formerly of Medtronic, said he was still all in on Google and Verily. Technology is the only logical way to deliver healthcare to a massive, fast-growing population, he said. “Whoever has the most data and knows how to aggregate it and analyze it is going to win in healthcare.”

Leadership changes at Verily

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Google Health hires FDA’s chief digital health officer

Bakul Patel in 2016, when he was the associate director for digital health in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health [FDA photo by Michael Ermarth]Former FDA Chief Digital Health Officer of Global Strategy and Innovation Bakul Patel has started a new job with Google after 13 years with the regulatory agency.

Patel became senior director, global digital health strategy and regulatory for Google Health earlier this month, he said on LinkedIn.

Patel recounted highlights of his “incredible journey since 2008” at the FDA, including the introduction of functionality-based regulations in the FDA’s mobile medical apps guidance, working with international agencies to define and regulate software-as-a-medical-device (SaMD), developing the Digital Health Software Precertification (Pre-Cert) Program and launching the Digital Health Center of Excellence.

Patel had only been in his latest role at FDA since February, previously serving as director of the FDA…

Google Health hires FDA’s chief digital health officer

Bakul Patel in 2016, when he was the associate director for digital health in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health [FDA photo by Michael Ermarth]

Former FDA Chief Digital Health Officer Global Strategy and Innovation Bakul Patel has started a new job with Google after 13 years with the regulatory agency.

Patel became senior director, global digital health strategy and regulatory for Google Health earlier this month, he said on LinkedIn.

Patel recounted highlights of his “incredible journey since 2008” at the FDA, including the introduction of functionality-based regulations in the FDA’s mobile medical apps guidance, working with international agencies to define and regulate software-as-a-medical-device (SaMD), developing the Digital Health Software Precertification (Pre-Cert) Program and launching the Digital Health Center of Excellence.

Patel had only been in his…

How the cloud tools behind Google Maps and Photos can advance medtech

Alissa Hsu Lynch is Google Cloud’s global lead for medtech strategy and solutions. [Photo courtesy of Google]

Alissa Hsu Lynch leads medtech strategy and solutions at Google Cloud, previously serving in executive roles at Johnson & Johnson and Bausch Health.

As part of Medical Design & Outsourcing‘s ongoing series of conversations about the cloud’s contributions to the medical device industry and its future, Lynch offered her perspective from the Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) subsidiary’s cloud-computing business. The following exchange has been edited for clarity and length.

MDO: What are some surprising and inspirational examples of what cloud computing enables with regard to medical device/drug development, manufacturing and capabilities/performance?

LYNCH: First is using data and artificial intelligence (AI) to quickly respond to emerging crises. COVID-19 accelerated …

Google’s sister company Verily opens new AI-focused R&D center in Israel

Verily today said it opened a new R&D center in Israel to focus on applying artificial intelligence in healthcare.

The Israel-based team will focus on applying AI to biomedical problems, including applications in endoscopy, minimally invasive surgery and other imaging modalities. The center will continue early research conducted by Google Health and Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center on using AI in the detection of colonic polyps.

“Through this collaboration, we have introduced a highly precise model using AI to identify and map colonic polyps in ways that will enhance diagnosis and treatment. This represents how close partnerships between clinical and technology leaders can have very significant and lasting benefits for the medical community,” Eran Goldin, director of the Digestive Diseases Institute at Shaare Zedek, said in a news release.

Verily’s Israel team will be co-located with Google in Haifa and Tel Aviv and will be led by …