Smart Toilet Seats | Jumping The Vaccine Line | Pharma’s Blockchain Trials

Plus: Anal Swab Covid Test Won’t Make You Waddle Like A ‘Penguin’

Your Wednesday Forbes Coronavirus newsletter and Forbes InnovationRx are now merged into one newsletter with science and healthcare news from Katie Jennings on Wednesdays and Coronavirus-exclusive coverage from Leah Rosenbaum on weekdays.

The digital health business is booming, as the coronavirus pandemic has vastly accelerated the need for new solutions. Forbes contributor Seth Joseph reports digital health investments hit $14.4 billion in 2020, a 72% increase from the previous year, based on an analysis by Rock Health. One of the newest entries to the market is Rochester, New York-based Casana, which has raised $14 million to bring a new remote medical monitoring device into the home: toilet seats. 

Toilet seats have a lot of surface area, which means there’s less need for expensive miniaturization such as what’s required for sensors found in an iPhone or FitBit. They also solve a key problem many doctors face with patients—getting them to comply with recording home measurements. There’s still a ways to go before this smart-throne hits the market, but it’s just one of the many exciting advancements on the horizon. 

And thanks to the eagle-eyed readers who caught that I put the wrong link to a story about the FDA approving Cabenuva in the last edition! The correct link is here if you want to read about the first monthly injection to treat HIV.

Any questions? Send me an email at kjennings@forbes.com.

While blockchain is popularly associated with cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin and ethereum, pharmaceutical companies are banding together to explore its use from fighting fake drugs to getting patients the most up-to-date information. The benefit of blockchain is it can allow different entities to communicate without revealing confidential information. One consortium in the European Union led by Novartis has received more than $20 million in funding to provide patients with electronic medical leaflets, which are digitized versions of the paper inserts legally required by health authorities with important medical information. 

Noteworthy

Health insurer Anthem is making moves into Puerto Rico, buying Medicaid and Medicare Advantage health plans from InnovaCare for an undisclosed sum. 

President Joe Biden is making it easier for millions of uninsured Americans to sign up for health insurance through an executive order issued last week. 

Mammoth Biosciences is developing Crispr-based technologies for the U.S. Department of Defense to detect emerging biological threats.

Coronavirus Updates

A new study has found that AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, currently being used in the U.K., is 76% effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 for at least three months after only one dose. The vaccine isn’t yet approved in the U.S. , but some experts around the world have been critical of the U.K.’s decision to focus on offering as many people the first dose as possible. With both doses of the vaccine, the effectiveness is about 82% -- is this enough of a difference to justify two shots? Today AstraZeneca also said that another vaccine against the new Covid-19 variants that are circulating the globe will be ready by this fall. And in more vaccine news, the first two federally supported Covid-19 vaccine sites will open in California later this month, a relief for the overworked and overstretched local healthcare systems.

In other coronavirus news:

Fauci warns against Super Bowl parties

600 players and staff at the Australian Open forced to isolate after a hotel worker gets Covid-19

How long can you really wait between the two doses of Covid-19 vaccines?

It turns out that the pandemic hasn’t led to a baby boom, according to a new study

Across Forbes

• 10 Jaw-Dropping Space Photos From The Travel Photographer Of The Year 2020

• British Company That Uses Waste Plastic To Pave Roads Bringing Process To U.S.

• Forbes Blockchain 50 Of 2021: Cashing In On Bitcoin Mania

What Else We Are Reading

• As the FDA clears a flood of AI tools, missing data raise troubling questions on safety and fairness (STAT)

• Scientists Think a Lab-Grown Uterus Could Help Fight Infertility (Future Human)

• 'Birthday Rule' Blindsides First-Time Parents With A Mammoth Medical Bill (NPR)