What the election could mean for hot healthcare startups

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Today’s a big earnings day for some of the major drugmakers in the COVID-19 vaccine and treatment race including Pfizer, Merck, and Eli Lilly. (No, we don’t yet have data on Pfizer’s late-stage COVID-19 vaccine trial.)

Meanwhile late on Monday, the Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Kimberly Leonard has the story on what adding a conservative judge could mean for Roe v. Wade, and the 16 abortion case that are making their way up to the high court right now.

Also today: We asked 14 top digital health leaders what the election will mean for the industry, 6 mental health startups that raised the most cash in the third quarter, and potentially diverging approval standards between Europe and the US.

5 ways the election could upend digital health, according to 14 healthcare CEOs, investors, and policy experts

• The 2020 presidential election could determine the future of digital health, healthcare investors and CEOs told Business Insider.
• The pandemic contributed to the quick adoption of digital health services like telehealth and digital therapeutics, but it's not clear how permanent their success can be without lasting policy.
• The biggest concerns experts had were over whether the ACA would remain intact, and what a surge of uninsured Americans could mean for the cost structures that digital health groups rely on.

Read the full story from Megan Hernbroth and Blake Dodge here>>

Here are the 6 mental health startups raising the most cash as the pandemic overwhelms workers and companies

• Mental health startups closed a record 68 funding deals in the third quarter of 2020, according to a new report from CB Insights.
• Investors have remained interested in funding mental health startups since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic as companies had to quickly adjust to accommodate remote work and the complications that came with it.
• Six startups raised the most in the third quarter, and many specialized in providing benefits for employers to offer employees.

Read the full story from Megan Hernbroth here>>

The EU's drug regulator would reportedly approve a COVID-19 vaccine even if it worked in less than 50% of people — a lower threshold than the FDA

• The European Union's drug regulator would approve a COVID-19 vaccine even if it worked in less than half of people, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• In comparison, the US's drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), expects a vaccine efficacy rate of at least 50%.
• The news suggests that the European Medicine Agency and the FDA could disagree on which vaccines to approve.

Read the full story from Kate Duffy here>>

More stories we're reading:

• Health startup AccuRx exploded during COVID-19 as doctors flocked to its free software – but new fees mean officials could soon pull the plug (Business Insider)
• A General Catalyst-backed blank-check firm is looking to go public (Reuters)
• Verily's COVID-19 testing program has been stopped in San Francisco and Alameda counties (Kaiser Health News) 
• WATCH: Why bats can fight off so many viruses (Business Insider)
• At age 27, I found out I have a 44% chance of developing breast cancer. Here's how I'm dealing with the specter of a diagnosis. (Insider)

- Lydia