Amazon is getting ready to launch Amazon Care nationally

Hello,

Welcome to Insider Healthcare. I'm Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer, and today in healthcare news:

• We got the scoop that Amazon's gearing up to launch its telehealth business nationally;
• How Sage Therapeutics is trying to avoid another flop with its second drug;
• ElevateBio raises $525 million from investors including SoftBank.

If you're new to this newsletter, sign up here. Comments, tips, recipes? Email me at [email protected] or tweet @lydiaramsey125. Now, let's get to it…

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Amazon is gearing up to launch its telehealth business for other companies and the rest of its US employees

• Amazon is expanding its healthcare business, Amazon Care, nationally.
• It started the service, which does telehealth and home visits, with Amazon workers in Washington.
• Amazon Care is the beginning of Amazon's efforts to change how people in the US get healthcare.

Get the full scoop here>>

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Sage's first depression drug flopped. The biotech's CEO shares how he's trying to avoid a repeat with its next treatment.

• Barry Greene took over as Sage's CEO after it cut the entire sales force behind its first drug.
• Its second drug, zuranolone, must compete with cheap depression drugs already on the market.
• The zuranolone launch could also affect Biogen's business, thanks to a $3.1 billion partnership.

Check out more from the conversation here>>

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SoftBank is betting on a gene therapy biotech in a mammoth $525 million round. ElevateBio's CEO told us how he plans to use the cash to support a genetic revolution in medicine.

• The Massachusetts biotech ElevateBio raised $525 million in an industry-record Series C round.
• The company produces cell- and gene-therapy medicines and is also now making its own research bets.
• The latest raise includes funds from the investment firm SoftBank.

Find out more here>>

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More stories we're reading today:

• Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is pregnant, and is requesting her federal trial be delayed again (Insider)
• Having 3 authorized vaccines makes testing new ones more complicated (Wired)
• One chart shows how well COVID-19 vaccines work against the 3 most worrisome coronavirus variants (Insider)
• People who are immunocompromised and get COVID-19 might play a role in the mutating variants (Washington Post)
• Is it a crime to give away leftover COVID shots? Doctors and other healthcare workers fear legal consequences as they wait for Justice Department guidance. (Insider)

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- Lydia