A top healthcare investor reveals the new way she’s backing startups

Hello,

Welcome to Insider Healthcare. I'm healthcare editor Leah Rosenbaum, and today in healthcare news:

• One of healthcare's top investors, Annie Lamont of Oak HC/FT, shares how she stays competitive in a hot market;
• Dr. Fauci says the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is likely not more severe than Delta;
• But Omicron may pose a challenge to Pfizer's vaccines, a new study shows. 

If you're new to this newsletter, sign up here. Comments, tips? Email me at [email protected] or tweet @leah_rosenbaum. Let's get to it…

A top VC who's spent 3 decades investing in healthcare shares the new way she's winning venture deals in a record-breaking market

• Annie Lamont, an Oak HC/FT cofounder, has been investing in healthcare companies for three decades.
• Lamont said that to compete with rising valuations, Oak has started creating companies.
• Incubating young companies can help Oak get more favorable terms in later funding rounds, she said.

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Fauci says Omicron variant is 'almost certainly' not more severe than Delta

• Omicron is "almost certainly" not more severe than Delta, Dr. Anthony Fauci told AFP on Tuesday.
• Omicron could even result in milder disease than other variants, Fauci added.
• But scientists are still waiting on data to know how well antibodies hold up against the variant.

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Omicron may challenge protection from 2 doses of Pfizer's vaccine more than other variants, early lab data suggests

• Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine may yield substantially fewer antibodies against the Omicron variant.
• The vaccine showed a 40-fold reduction in antibody levels in a study awaiting peer review.
• But Omicron didn't evade vaccine protection completely. The shots may still protect severe disease. 

Get the full story>> 

More stories we're reading:

• Omicron's 'wacko' combination of mutations has scientists split over whether it developed in humans or animals (Insider)
• At-home COVID-19 tests may mean that many cases of the disease go unreported (STAT)
• The pitch deck a medical-software startup used to secure $40 million in Series B funding (Insider)
• At her trial, Elizabeth Holmes denies wrongdoing with Theranos (The New York Times)
• Pfizer says 3 of its shots work against Omicron, citing lab tests, but that 2 appear less effective (Insider)

-Leah