IBM’s Watson leaves Jeopardy to become a doctor (Morning Read)

Among current medical news: IBM's Watson gets geared up to tackle healthcare; the latest poll says Americans want Medicare untouched, Wisconsin could be the latest state to embrace venture capital, BSX gets a new CE mark, and DNA sequencing beats Moore's law.

Current medical news and unique business news for anyone who cares about the healthcare industry.

WatsonCare. The IBM Watson supercomputer that wowed Jeopardy is getting retooled to make patient diagnoses. The computer is still two years away from a full medical release. In the meantime, it’s being trained – and this should make physicians feel comfortable – by medical students.

Columbia University medical school professor Dr. Herbert said Watson will be able to handle the information overload that’s so hard for physicians to handle. “For at least 30 years it’s been clear that it’s not possible for us to know everything,” Chase told the Associated Press. “Every day, doctors have questions they can’t find the answers to. Even if you sit down at a search engine, it’s so labor intensive and it takes so long to find answers.”

Poll: Hands off my government healthcare. Fifty-four percent of Americans (likely few of them employed in the healthcare industry) think the budget can be balanced without cuts to Medicare, according to the latest poll by The Associated Press. However, 44 percent believe cuts to Medicare are needed. Seventy-two percent of American also believe Medicare is “extremely” or “very” important to their futures.

Wisconsin looking toward venture capital. New legislation in the Wisconsin statehouse includes $200 million to invest in venture capital funds to spark job growth.

Elixir Medical, BSX CE Marks. Elixir wins a CE Mark for its coronary stent system. Boston Scientific wins European approval for its spinal cord stimulation system.

A third path to biotech riches. Forget going public or getting acquired: “A lot of people in venture capital think they’ll fund a company and it will get bought. It’s surprising. It’s becoming more and more obvious it’s an antiquated view. … We don’t think there’s a large probability of going public or being acquired. Our exit will be a licensing transaction. The probability of that happening is quite high.”

DNA sequencing… beats Moore’s Law.

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