Hello,
Welcome to Insider Healthcare. I'm Leah Rosenbaum, a new healthcare editor at Insider who will be helping Lydia with this newsletter for the next few months. Today in healthcare news:
- Weight-loss app Noom calls itself anti-diet, but users say they it relies on calorie restriction;
- Former Accolade executive Dr. Alan Spiro is joining at-home care startup Laguna Health;
- Polls show that Americans are just fine with COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
If you're new to this newsletter, sign up here. Comments, tips? Email me at [email protected] or tweet @leah_rosenbaum. As Lydia likes to say, let's get to it…
First – some breaking news from last night. The FDA on Wednesday evening authorized boosters of Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for people 65 and up and people at higher risk.
That includes people between 18-64 who are at higher risk of getting a severe COVID-19 case, and people at higher risk based on where they work or where they live. Boosters are only available to people who were initially vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech shot.
Crystal Cox/Business Insider
Noom markets itself as an anti-diet lifestyle app. Users say they find themselves counting calories, receiving canned advice from burned-out coaches, and taking on expensive subscriptions.
- Noom is an industry leader in weight-loss apps with millions of dollars in venture-capital funding.
- The company pitches itself as offering personalized weight-loss support using psychological methods.
- Users and former employees say it relies on calorie restriction and coaches are burned out.
Laguna Health's app helps patients recover at home.
Laguna Health
Laguna Health
A longtime Accolade executive is setting his sights on at-home care as the next big opportunity for upending how care is delivered in the US
- Dr. Alan Spiro, a longtime Accolade executive, is joining Laguna Health as its chief medical officer and president.
- At-home care has been an area of growth for digital health during the COVID-induced funding boom.
- The rapid adoption of telehealth helped startups offering in-home care, Laguna CEO Yoni Shtein said.
A band-aid is placed on the arm of a 12 year old child after they received a first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine after it was approved for use by the FDA in children 12 and over at a Los Angeles County mobile vaccination clinic on May 14, 2021 in Los Angeles, California.
Patrick Fallon/AFP/Getty Images
Patrick Fallon/AFP/Getty Images
Poll after poll shows the same thing: Americans are cool with vaccine mandates
- Three recent polls show that a majority of Americans support vaccine mandates.
- The popularity of vaccine requirements has risen as the Delta variant surged.
- Hardline opposition to getting vaccinated has fallen to a new low.
More stories we're reading:
- Some doctors are spreading COVID-19 misinformation. Will they be held accountable? (Kaiser Health News)
- China's biotech industry has quietly surged to a $180 billion behemoth. Here's how it's reshaping biotech as we know it, from M&A to drug pricing (Insider)
- A new federal office plans to look at climate change through a public-health lens (The Wall Street Journal)
- Tennessee says vaccinated people should be last in line for antibody treatments to save them for the unvaccinated (Insider)
-Leah