Hello, and welcome to Insider Healthcare. I'm Megan Hernbroth, the startups and venture capital reporter on the healthcare team.
First: The US Food and Drug Administration could approve the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine as early as today, The New York Times reported on Friday. That could help encourage people to get vaccinated, and also open the door to more vaccine requirements.
Today in healthcare news:
- Google Health is being dismantled, according to a leaked memo;
- How the smart ring sweeping Silicon Valley won over big employers afraid of COVID;
- A top MIT professor and biotech founder has been placed on leave following a sexual harassment investigation.
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Google is dismantling its embattled health division as the tech giant reconsiders its strategy for healthcare
- Google is dismantling its Google Health division, Insider has learned from a leaked memo, and the group will have its units scattered throughout Google.
- Its chief, Dr. David Feinberg, will depart the company for the CEO role at Cerner, the electronic-medical-records behemoth.
- In 2012, Google shuttered its first serious healthcare project, a service to let people store their medical records online. It was also named Google Health.
Get the full scoop from Blake Dodge and Hugh Langley >>
Ellie Liew
The next mission for Silicon Valley's favorite smart ring? Preventing COVID-19 outbreaks.
- Oura CEO Harpreet Singh Rai said smart-ring sales have increased among companies buying them for employees ahead of office reopenings.
- Before the pandemic, Oura rings were mostly bought by individuals.
- Singh Rai predicted that more companies would begin purchasing wearables for their employees as a way to cut healthcare costs and mitigate outbreaks of COVID-19 or other infectious diseases.
Leaked emails reveal a top MIT professor and biotech founder has been placed on leave following a sexual harassment investigation
- Noted scientist David Sabatini has been placed on administrative leave following an investigation into sexual harassment at his lab.
- Sabatini has helped create multiple biotech companies like Navitor and KSQ Therapeutics.
- "The report raises very serious concerns about sexual and workplace harassment," according to an email sent out Friday.
More stories we're reading today:
- How, where, and when to get your COVID-19 booster shot (Insider)
- Why the coronavirus has changed the way it has, and what that means going forward (STAT News)
- Doctors in North Texas considered taking COVID-19 patients' vaccination status into account when determining who gets ICU beds (Insider)
- Apple delays its return to the office until January amid the ongoing Covid surge (CNBC)
- Megan
Read the original article on Business Insider