Hims buys Eucalyptus for $240 million upfront as it looks to expand

Telehealth company Hims announced it plans to buy Australia-based digital health company Eucalyptus as it looks to expand globally, Andrew Joseph reports. The deal will allow Hims to begin operating in Australia and Japan and to deepen its roots in European markets. The deal includes a $240 million payment upon closing and could be worth up to $1.15 billion if certain financial performance goals are met.

Hims has been in the hot seat recently over its practice of marketing compounded versions of blockbuster obesity and diabetes drugs. Coincidentally, but Ashlee Foltz, the company's VP of compliance, a nnounced she is leaving the company after four years.

How AI is helping guide cancer treatments

Sometimes it's not clear what cancer treatment will work for a particular patient. As Angus Chen reports, a new wave of artificial intelligence tools is coming to market to help clinicians decide. For example, Valar Labs is preparing to launch a pathology AI offering that helps clinicians choose between two common chemotherapy treatments for advanced pancreatic cancer.

At the moment, these tools focus on providing guidance in situations where treatment options are more or less equivalent, and they're getting rapid uptake in oncology. But there's a lack of standard procedures for putting them into practice, as oncologists debate what level of evidence is sufficient to trust the algorithms' results, and what the regulation or ethical guidelines around their use should look like.

research

How do people on Medicare use telehealth?

The federal budget bill passed earlier this month gave telehealth advocates the two-year extension of Medicare telehealth flexibilities that had been in a holding pattern since the end of 2024. A new analysis, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, explores telehealth use under the flexibilities, shedding light on aspects of the care that's on the line.

Researchers analyzed nationally representative survey data covering 2021 to 2023 and found that 1 out 6 Medicare enrollees reported using telehealth. In particular, the researchers highlight that telehealth users were more likely than non-users to report fair or poor health, suggesting that "withdrawal of telehealth flexibilities may disproportionately affect the most medically and functionally vulnerable Medicare beneficiaries."

The non-mental health conditions most commonly treated over telehealth during the period were diabetes (estimated at 2 million visits), hypertension (1.5 million visits) and sleep-wake disorders (1.5 million visits).

Health tech news roundup

Verily announced a self-service version of its Pre data platform, including a new tier that allows researchers to access some of its tools for free.
Merck and Mayo Clinic announced a new partnership to advance "AI-enabled drug discovery."
Rainfall Health, developer of a platform that helps hospitals and providers with reimbursement and compliance, announced a $15 million Series A round led by Two Bear Capital.
Daffodil Health, maker of a "pricing and payment integrity solution," raised a $16.3 million Series A round led by Flare Capital Partners.
Fabric, which acquired telehealth provider MeMD from Walmart in 2024, this week announced its "successor," Evo. The virtual care solution for employers offers urgent care, talk therapy, mental health medication management, and a weight loss program. I wrote about Fabric's M&A strategy back in October.

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What we're reading

The FDA's Moderna pirouette is one more sign of chaos at the agency, STAT
Take it from a doctor: It's OK if your medical advice comes from A.I., New York Times
Opinion: How to Solve AI's 'Jagged Intelligence' Problem, UNDARK