This week’s edition of InnovationRx highlights cancer treatment breakthroughs from ESMO, a cutting-edge chair that could transform cancer radiation therapy, AI chatbots for seniors, a startup using ride-share mapping for healthcare navigation, and more. To receive it in your inbox, subscribe here.
Illustration by Philip Smith for Forbes
Loneliness among the elderly is a growing crisis, with a national study revealing that one-third of U.S. adults between ages 50 and 80 feel isolated. This isolation can lead to various health risks, prompting the emergence of AI startups offering chatbot companionship solutions for the elderly.
One such startup, Meela, backed by $3.5 million in seed funding, facilitates “friend-like” conversations with AI for a monthly fee. Another company, InTouch, uses AI prompts to engage seniors in discussions about their past and interests.
Despite concerns about the implications of long-term interactions with AI companions, the market for AI in aging and elder care is rapidly expanding. It is projected to reach $44 billion this year, encompassing AI-enabled devices and applications beyond chatbots, reflecting a 20% increase from the previous year.
“The first individuals to establish enduring relationships with AI are not tech enthusiasts in Silicon Valley,” noted Dor Skuler, founder and CEO of Intuition Robotics. “They are older adults in the United States.”
Read the full Forbes feature here.
Revolutionizing Cancer Radiation Therapy with a High-Tech Chair
For years, Stanford Health Care endeavored to install a state-of-the-art proton therapy machine to enhance its array of advanced cancer treatments. However, due to space constraints and exorbitant costs associated with traditional proton therapy machines, the installation posed challenges.
Proton therapy machines, used for targeted radiation delivery to cancerous tumors, typically require vast facilities, with costs ranging from $50 million to $100 million. Stanford faced obstacles in finding suitable space for such a machine, given Palo Alto’s real estate limitations and construction complexities.
Three years ago, Stanford found a solution: Leo Cancer Care, a startup that devised a novel approach to proton therapy. Instead of rotating the radiation beam around a patient lying flat, Leo Cancer Care designed a chair that enabled the patient to rotate around the beam while seated. This simple innovation significantly reduced the space requirements to about 1,700 square feet, a more than 90% reduction from the standard setup. This made installation more affordable and feasible, even with the necessary radiation shielding for proton therapy machines.
Collaborating with Leo Cancer Care, which developed the chair and imaging technology, and Mevion Medical Systems, which created a compact proton accelerator, Stanford began constructing the new facility in 2024. Dr. Billy Loo, a radiation oncology professor at Stanford, anticipates that this innovation will enable more effective cancer treatment with lower risks. “The concept is straightforward, but the execution is highly sophisticated,” Loo remarked. “It has a profound impact.”
While Leo Cancer Care is still in its early stages and faces challenges in a capital-intensive industry, the company, based in West Sussex, U.K., and Middleton, Wis., has garnered significant attention. With total funding of $150 million and a valuation of $280 million, including a recent $40 million round led by Catalio Capital Management, Leo Cancer Care has already secured customers even before receiving FDA clearance for its flagship product, Marie. Named after Nobel laureate Marie Curie, Marie combines an upright patient positioning system with a CT scanner. The company generated $11 million in revenue last year, with projections indicating more than double growth this year. Co-founder and CEO Stephen Towe aims to achieve $200 million in revenue within three to four years and has expressed plans for Leo to go public, potentially as early as late-2026, depending on market conditions.
Read more here.
BIOTECH AND PHARMA
At the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Berlin, pharmaceutical companies and academic researchers presented pivotal data on cancer treatments. Here are some notable findings:
mRNA vaccines. Moderna posted early data from a clinical trial of its mRNA cancer vaccine in combination with Merck’s Keytruda in melanoma patients. The vaccine primes the immune system to target tumor cells and tumor suppressor cells, resulting in a 60% disease control rate. Additionally, MD Anderson Cancer Center reported that patients who received an mRNA COVID vaccine within 100 days of starting cancer immunotherapy were twice as likely to survive after three years compared to those who did not receive the vaccine.
Ovarian cancer. Faeth Therapeutics reported positive outcomes from a phase II study of its drug sapanisertib in combination with chemotherapy for ovarian cancer, resulting in improved survival rates and a 34% reduction in progression risk compared to chemotherapy alone. Merck presented data on its investigational antibody-drug conjugate, raludotatug deruxtecan, developed with Daiichi Sankyo, demonstrating tumor shrinkage in over 50% of patients with ovarian, peritoneal, or fallopian tube cancer. Another Merck study revealed prolonged survival and reduced progression risk in ovarian cancer patients treated with Keytruda plus chemotherapy. These studies are crucial as Merck prepares for the impending loss of patent protection for Keytruda, a significant revenue source generating nearly $30 billion last year.
Breast cancer. AstraZeneca presented compelling data on its breast cancer drug Enhertu in two clinical trials. The first trial showed a 67% complete response rate in early-stage patients and an 81% absence of residual cancer post-surgery, outperforming standard treatments. The second trial demonstrated a 92% three-year cancer-free survival rate in early HER2-positive breast cancer patients treated with Enhertu compared to standard care.
Cancer detection. Diagnostic company Grail reported that its Galleri test, designed for multi-cancer early detection, increased the detection of breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung cancers by threefold when used alongside standard screenings. The company intends to leverage this data for its FDA premarket approval application.
DIGITAL HEALTH AND AI
Stealth startup Sage Care, founded by individuals from rideOS and Carbon Health, secured $20 million in funding to develop an air-traffic control system for healthcare. The software streamlines healthcare navigation, assisting patients and healthcare systems in managing appointments, referrals, and communication to ensure patients reach the right appointments at the right time. Sage Care’s clientele includes Jiva Health, a multi-specialty clinic in California, Bronson Healthcare in Michigan, and White Plains Hospital in New York.
Read more here.
Additionally: OpenEvidence’s Daniel Nadler saw a $1.3 billion increase in wealth in just three months as the AI startup reached a $6 billion valuation. Nadler aims not only to assist doctors in accessing existing medical research but also to create medical superintelligence, as detailed in Forbes.
MEDTECH
GE Healthcare, a leading medtech company, announced collaborations with Queen’s Health Systems in Honolulu and Duke Health in Durham, N.C., to advance its AI-driven operations software at the HLTH conference in Las Vegas. The company also unveiled five new artificial intelligence research projects under its AI Innovation Lab, initiated last year, including the development of an agentic AI diagnostic imaging assistant for potential integration into devices.
Moreover: A pivotal clinical trial of brain-computer interface company Science’s retinal implant demonstrated vision restoration in 80% of advanced macular degeneration patients. The company has submitted regulatory approval applications in Europe.
PUBLIC HEALTH AND HOSPITALS
Health insurers like Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, and Oscar Health are expanding their Affordable Care Act plans with broader coverage and options in the individual insurance marketplace, despite the U.S. government shutdown over tax subsidies for these health plans. Oscar, for instance, will offer plans tailored for individuals with chronic conditions and women in perimenopause or menopause. Open enrollment for these plans is set to commence on November 1. Failure to extend tax credits beyond this year could lead to a potential 100% or higher increase in ACA plan costs. Recent public disclosure in several states unveiled the elevated prices of ACA plans.
Additionally: The New England Journal of Medicine and the Centers for Infectious Disease Research and Policy joined forces to publish public health alerts as an alternative to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The collaboration aims to establish a trusted source for public health information amidst waning confidence in the MMWR publication during the previous administration.
