23 rising healthcare startups, according to top VCs

Hello,

Welcome to Insider Healthcare. I'm Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer, and today in healthcare news:

• We rounded up 23 of the most promising healthcare startups;
• Smaller pharmacy benefit managers reimagining how we pay for drugs are winning out as companies ditch incumbents;
• Here are the lengths digital health dealmakers are going to amid an industry boom.

If you're new to this newsletter, sign up here. Comments, tips? Email me at lramsey@insider.com or tweet @lydiaramsey125. Let's get to it...

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23 of the most promising healthcare startups of 2021, according to top VCs

• We asked top venture capitalists to name the most promising US healthcare startups so far in 2021.
• VCs were asked to name companies in their portfolios and ones with which they had no financial ties.
• They named startups across healthcare segments, from biotech to digital health and wellness.

Read the full list here>>

Companies are ditching massive drug-industry middlemen in favor of smaller competitors reimagining how we pay for drugs

• Drug-industry middlemen called pharmacy benefit managers are in trouble for overcharging customers.
• That's driving business to companies that promise transparency and say they operate differently.
• But breaking in is tough for alternative PBMs that aren't valued as highly by powerful consultants.

Here's what's at stake>>

Digital-health dealmakers are working 18-hour days 7 days a week to keep up with the booming industry

• Dealmakers have been working overtime during the digital-health boom.
• Lawyers, bankers, and investors pull all-nighters and work seven days a week to make deals happen.
• Private funding for digital-health companies continues to break records each quarter in 2021.

Here's what it's like>>

More stories we're reading:

• Intellia reported that six patients have safely had the DNA in their liver cells edited using the CRISPR gene-editing tool (Stat News)
• How Americans waged war on the scientists trying to save them (Insider)
• San Diego is suing three insurers, alleging they haven't been maintaining accurate provider directories (Healthcare Dive)
• A former CIA officer opens up about his Havana Syndrome: 3 years of headaches, early retirement, and a fight for care (Insider)

- Lydia