Buckle up: It’s time to talk about tariffs…again.

While tariffs are paused for many countries and pharmaceuticals are exempt (for now), the healthcare industry is certainly not immune to the up to 145% tax on Chinese goods. For health tech startups specifically, there are two challenges: ensuring they have enough devices companies need and securing capital to grow amid a volatile market.

In Q1 2018 and 2019, venture funding for digital health companies hit $1.9 billion and $1.3 billion, respectively, according to data provided to Healthcare Brew by digital health strategy group Rock Health.

Those numbers quickly shot up during the pandemic to $3.3 billion in 2020 and peaked at $6.6 billion in 2021, the data showed for each year’s Q1 analysis. But investment fell again in recent years to a low of $2.9 billion in Q1 2024, then slightly recovered to $3 billion in Q1 2025.

For more on how tariffs are affecting startups, click here.—CM

That changed this annual open enrollment period (AEP).

Amid heightened utilization post-pandemic and regulatory scrutiny, Medicare Advantage (MA) became less of a game of Monopoly and more of a game of hot potato: No insurer wanted to end up with too many high-utilization members because the government pays MA plans a fixed amount per enrollee rather than per service.

Companies upped deductibles, reduced benefits, pulled plans from unprofitable markets and states, and stopped paying brokers commissions for certain plans to shrink enrollment.

The result: During the 2024–25 AEP, MA drew in only 1.3 million new members, compared to 2+ million in each of the five years prior, according to a March 25 report by consulting firm HealthScape Advisors. Traditional fee-for-service Medicare grew by about 200,000 after years of losing hundreds of thousands of members, according to HealthScape. During the 2023–24 AEP, it lost about 800,000.

Learn more about MA’s slowed growth here.—CC

The GLP-1 space has been busy lately, to say the least.

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, makers of leading GLP-1s Ozempic and Zepbound, respectively, both reported earnings in early May, with each drugmaker leading in different areas. Eli Lilly, for example, saw strong sales growth in Q1 2025, while Novo had the competitive advantage in bringing the first oral GLP-1 to market.

Breaking it down. Novo’s GLP-1 sales results were somewhat mixed.

Wegovy, its obesity GLP-1, brought in $2.6 billion in Q1, up roughly 85% from $1.4 billion in Q1 2024 but down about 13% from $3 billion in Q4 2024. Ozempic, its Type 2 diabetes GLP-1, made nearly $5 billion, up 19% from $4.2 billion in Q1 2024 but down almost 3% from $5.1 billion in Q4 2024.

Lilly’s obesity GLP-1, Zepbound, on the other hand, brought in $2.3 billion in Q1, up almost 345% from $517 million YoY. And its Type 2 diabetes GLP-1, Mounjaro, brought in $3.8 billion, up 111% from $1.8 billion last year.

Get the latest GLP-1 news here.—MA