Welcome to Dispensed Daily, your daily dose of healthcare news from Business Insider’s healthcare editor Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer and the healthcare team. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday.
Hello,
Today in healthcare news: 6 key debates remain over the next stimulus bill, why Alexis Ohanian backed Ro in the early days, and the VC behind Moderna placed a huge bet on new tech for genes.
I’m your host of today’s Dispensed Daily, Blake Dodge, the healthcare team’s health-tech and testing reporter.
Here are the 6 biggest sticking points Democrats and Republicans need to resolve as they race to finish a coronavirus stimulus bill this week
- Congress is running up against several deadlines to pass another coronavirus stimulus package.
- But there's huge obstacles and competing plans between Senate Republicans and House Democrats.
- From unemployment benefits to money for schools, here are the biggest areas of friction.
Read the full story from Kimberly Leonard and Joseph Zeballos-Roig here>>
The biotech venture giant behind Moderna just made an $85 million bet on a startup that wants to create an alternative to gene editing and gene therapy
- Flagship Pioneering, a VC that backed Moderna, just led an $85 million round for Omega Therapeutics.
- The startup is aiming to develop a new competitor to gene therapies.
- As opposed to gene editing, its researchers want to figure out how to turn genes on or off to treat diseases.
Read the full story from Andrew Dunn here>>
Why Alexis Ohanian decided to back Ro, a $1.5 billion healthcare startup that got its start shipping Viagra to your door, when it had just a founding team and a pitch deck
- Alexis Ohanian, cofounder of Initialized Capital and Reddit, bet on healthcare startup Ro when the company only had a pitch deck and a founding team.
- On Monday, Ro hit a $1.5 billion valuation after raising $200 million from General Catalyst and other investors.
- Ohanian shares why the company resonated before it became a hit, netting $250 million in annual revenue.
Read the full story from Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer here>>
More stories we're reading:
- The leaders of the world's most powerful tech companies - Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google - will be speaking in front of Congress this week. Here's what we're expecting, and why it's a huge deal. (Business Insider)
- Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican, contracted coronavirus after refusing to wear a mask (Politico)
- The US just passed the 150,000 marker for coronavirus deaths, and hospitalizations are up (The Wall Street Journal)
- Alexis Ohanian is rethinking how he invests in early companies after stepping down from Reddit's board (Business Insider)
It's 1,000 degrees outside, but I'm still wearing my mask. Let me know what we should be paying attention to: [email protected].
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- Blake