Telemedicine giant AmWell is looking to go public, following a surge in use amid the coronavirus, CNBC first reported. The company declined to comment on news of the IPO when MobiHealthNews reached out. 

CNBC is reporting that the Boston-based company hired Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to broker the deal, which is expected to take place in September. 

This news comes only weeks after the company announced a $194 million Series C  funding round led by Allianz X and Takeda – bringing the company’s funding pot to just over $640 million. At the time, the company said that the new funds were going to be used towards expanding its tech and services. 

WHY IT MATTERS 

AmWell will add to the growing trend of digital health companies filing for an IPO. After a multiyear lull, Rock Health reported six digital health IPOs in 2019. This included big names like Livongo, Health Catalyst and Peloton. 

This year has also witnessed a steady stream of digital health companies filing to go public. In January,  One Medical, a tech-enabled primary care provider, filed to go public with JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley as its lead bookrunning managers. Then in March, Accolade announced its plans to take its health-benefits-navigation business to public-investor markets. 

THE LARGER TREND 

One of AmWell’s biggest competitors is Teladoc , which went public in 2015. Recently, Teladoc has seen its numbers soar as a response to the coronavirus. In its latest Q1 earnings call, the company reported a 41% year-over-year revenue growth to $180.8 million. The company also reported a 92% increase in the number of users during that period.

The coronavirus has seen new efforts across the board from telehealth companies, including AmWell. In April the company launched its new virtual health offering geared towards small and medium physician practices with less than 100 providers. 

AireHealth, maker of an FDA-cleared portable nebulizer that pairs with a smartphone app for remote monitoring, announced Friday the acquisition of fellow respiratory health company BreathResearch. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The merger agreement sees AireHealth adding BreathResearch's IP, research and patents, which include work on machine learning analytics for respiratory condition tracking. BreathResearch's Silicon Valley-based staff will also be making the transition, with founder Nirinjan Yee now taking on a role as head of innovation for AireHealth.

WHAT'S THE IMPACT?

AireHealth already looks to set itself apart with patient-facing digital features and adherence tracking. The new combined offering, VitalBreath powered by BreathResearch, appears to be strengthening the virtual care platform's capabilities so that it can support early detection of respiratory decline.

“I am very pleased to see our years of research and development in respiratory diagnostics and artificial intelligence come together with AireHealth’s medication delivery and adherence as an integrated platform that can address the unmet needs and gaps in respiratory care,” Yee said in a statement. “In becoming a part of AireHealth, we marry our respective intellectual property into one very powerful portfolio that will undoubtedly yield important and impactful technology innovation for many years to come.”

THE LARGER TREND

AireHealth said that its combined entity is primed to address a respiratory illness market costing more than $130 billion a year, while a 2019 report pegged the digital respiratory health market at $557 million by 2023. But the company is certainly not alone in pairing digital features with respiratory therapeutics.

Propeller Health, for example, has attached its sensor and platform to a handful of asthma and COPD inhalers, the most recent of which was AstraZeneca's Symbicort in late May. January also saw NuvoAir (formerly Pond Healthcare Innovation) pick up its first 510(k) for a portable, connected spirometer device for home use called Air Next.

New Zealand-based smart-inhaler-maker Adherium – which had also partnered with AstraZeneca on Symbicort – was fairly quiet over the past couple of years. Recently, however it posted a COVID-19 update on its website noting "a new management team, organization, and strategy" for the company, and secured an AU$5 million investment and additional AU$5 million option from BioScience Managers Translation Fund 1.