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Augmedix, the only publicly-traded AI medical scribe company, posted $13.5 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2024, up 40% from the previous year. But by Tuesday’s close, a day after the earnings report, the stock was down more than 50% to $1.15 per share. The reason? Competition.
Augmedix CEO Manny Krakaris told analysts the company was lowering its 2024 revenue outlook to a range of $52 million to $55 million from previous estimates of $60 million to $62 million. “There are 42 companies in this space right now that are offering generative AI medical documentation solutions,” Krakaris said on the earnings call. “So there’s a lot of noise in the market and a lot of trials that are ongoing.” He added he believes Augmedix’s range of options, from fully-automated to human-in-the-loop will ultimately prevail given how different doctors have different preferences.
The company is making a big push for its fully-automated AI scribe for use in emergency departments, which was released for general availability last month following a pilot with HCA Healthcare. It’s faster and cheaper than the human-in-the-loop version. Prior to the earnings call, Forbes caught up with Augmedix founder and chief strategy officer Ian Shakil, who provided insight into how the company plans to differentiate itself.
“The [emergency department] is hard as heck,” said Shakil, due to terrible acoustics, patient rooms separated by curtains, multiple voices and doctors constantly switching between bedsides. Augmedix offers a hands-free option that includes a lapel mic, rather than having to put a phone down on a surface. The idea is to conquer complex specialties, like emergency and oncology, said Shakil. “If we can show strength and differentiation there, we can win accounts.”
Augmedix started with trying to essentially create a hands-free Google glasses-based device for doctors and Shakil hasn’t given up on trying to make the hands-free experience even better, though he’s no longer interested in bespoke hardware. Nowadays he’s thinking about microphones and sensing equipment using what’s already in the room – think smart TVs and fall-detecting monitors and other sensing equipment that could be tapped.
“The other benefit, which is really exciting, is team-based documentation,” he said. In a hospital, there can be multiple doctors, nurses and other clinicians treating a patient. “To the degree these hospitals are partnering, innovating and making their rooms smart,” said Shakil, “it enables us to kind of ride those rails.”
This $2.2 Billion Startup’s GPT-4 Powered AI Bot Demystifies Health Insurance
Livongo cofounder Glen Tullman is teasing a new AI chatbot built on the same technology that powers ChatGPT, as part of his latest venture Transcarent, which announced a $126 million Series D at a $2.2 billion valuation earlier this month. The bot will aim to answer the health insurance-related questions that regularly stump more than half of Americans, like: How much will I have to pay for this doctor’s visit? But experts say Transcarent’s business may be more of a Band-aid than a panacea, even though there is a growing market – Grand View Research estimates it at $10 billion – to help people navigate how to find and pay for healthcare services.
Read more here.
Pipeline & Deal Updates
Infectious Disease: Bluejay Therapeutics has announced a $182 series C round to advance its clinical pipeline for viral and liver diseases.
Immunology: Attovia announced it has raised a $105 million series B round to advance its clinical pipeline for the treatment of immune-related disorders.
Obesity: Metaphore Biotechnologies has signed an R&D deal with Novo Nordisk to develop two potential obesity drugs in a deal potentially worth up to $600 million.
Venture Capital: Sands Capital announced it has raised $555 million for its new life sciences fund, Pulse III.
Longevity: Retro Biosciences and Multiply Labs have announced an $85 million deal aimed at automating cell therapy manufacturing for treatments aimed at age-related diseases.
Pain: Brixton Biosciences announced it has raised a $33 million series B round aimed at developing new treatments for chronic pain.
Alzheimer’s: Takeda announced it has entered into an option and license agreement with AC Immune potentially worth up to $2.1 billion for the latter’s drug candidate for Alzheimer’s disease.
Why Lilly And Novo Nordisk Will Keep Dominating The Market For Blockbuster GLP-1 Drugs
The mass interest in GLP-1 drugs has led to a business boom for the two dominant pharmaceutical players in this space, Lilly and Novo Nordisk, which sold over $7.3 billion worth of its GLP-1 drugs in the first three months of the year. And between ramped up manufacturing capacity and new drug pipelines, the pair are well positioned to continue dominating the market for this new category of drugs, which have generated excitement in the industry thanks both to strong efficacy across a number of different diseases while having few safety concerns for patients.
Read more here.
Other Healthcare News
A toddler has been able to hear for the first time after being treated with a pioneering gene therapy for deafness.
UnitedHealth Group has invested more than $1 billion in housing as it intensifies an increasingly successful strategy to address social determinants of health.
If you’re interested in keeping worms out of your brain, here are some pointers.
Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide (the key ingredient for Ozempic and Wegovy) could slash the risk of heart attacks and strokes whether patients lose weight when taking it or not.
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What Else We are Reading
Despite H5N1 bird flu outbreaks in dairy cattle, raw milk enthusiasts are uncowed (L.A. Times)
WuXi Biologics execs register to lobby as Congress comes for the company (Stat)
How to kill the ‘zombie’ cells that make you age (Nature)
