Good day.  Startups such as Particle Health Inc. are seeking to capitalize on new federal rules that help patients gain access to their health data.

The rules, which stem from the 21st Century Cures Act, signed into law in 2016, prevent health-care providers, electronic-medical records companies and other groups from blocking patients’ access to their health information. Compliance is required starting on Nov. 2, but full enforcement isn’t expected to begin until February 2021.

The rules will allow patients to control their health records and to more easily share their information with third parties, such as digital-health companies.

New York-based Particle, whose investors include Menlo Ventures, formed in early 2018 in anticipation of anti-information blocking rules taking effect.

Particle has been building a technological pipeline into electronic-medical records companies and health-care providers that enables access to patient data. It is a layer between data holders and parties requesting access to data, similar to the way Plaid Inc. connects fintech apps to bank accounts, said co-founder and Chief Executive Troy Bannister.

As the new rules go into effect Particle aims to provide the technology that enables patients to authorize digital-health companies to access their data for specific purposes, such as health coaching, Mr. Bannister said.

And now on to the news...

Telehealth financing. Investors are bankrolling virtual primary-care startup 98point6 Inc. with $118 million, betting on a company whose business has surged this year along with rising demand for telehealth services. 

• Seattle-based 98point6, which provides text-based primary-care services through memberships, had 824,000 members coming into this year. With help from growing interest in telehealth this year, its membership has grown to three million.
   
• The company uses artificial intelligence and automation to streamline the process of gathering information from patients that doctors use to make their assessments.
   
• 98point6 plans to put most of this new financing toward research and development as it seeks to deepen its relationships with patients.

About 70% of registered voters surveyed said they would take a Covid-19 vaccine, although many want to wait until it has been available for a while to see if there are major problems or side effects, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows.

The survey found that 20% of respondents said they would take a vaccine as soon as one becomes available, while about half the respondents wanted to wait until they learned more information about the shot. “There’s a really high reticence to be first in line,” said Kate Fridley, a Democratic pollster who worked on the survey with Republican Bill McInturff.

People

Flagship Pioneering, which forms and backs health care and sustainability startups, named Tuyen Ong as CEO-Partner. He will also serve as chief executive at Flagship Labs-founded gene therapy startup Ring Therapeutics. Mr. Ong was most recently senior vice president, head of the ophthalmology franchise at Biogen.

Epirium Bio Inc., which is developing a novel treatment for Becker muscular dystrophy, appointed Alexander Casdin as chief financial officer. He was previously founder, chief executive and portfolio manager of Reneo Capital Management. Additionally, Sandy Mahatme, former CFO and chief business officer of Sarepta Therapeutics Inc., will join Epirium’s board and serve as audit committee chair. The San Diego-based company in December raised an $83 million funding round from ARCH Venture Partners, Longitude Capital, Adams Street Partners, Bluebird Ventures, Longevity Fund and Vertex Ventures HC.

DispatchHealth, a provider of urgent-care services in patients’ homes, appointed Sara Crate as chief commercial officer and Bruce A. Johnson as general counsel. Ms. Crate was most recently chief sales officer at Honor. In June, DispatchHealth raised a $135.8 million Series C round from investors including Optum Ventures, Oak HC/FT, Alta Partners, Questa Capital and Echo Health Ventures.

Exits

Publicly traded HealthStream acquired health care-focused scheduling software provider ShiftWizard Inc. for about $32 million in cash. Raleigh, N.C.-based ShiftWizard was backed by FCA Venture Partners and Altitude Ventures.

Brentwood, Tenn.-based IVX Health, a provider of infusion and injection therapy for patients with complex chronic conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis, acquired Precision Healthcare, which operates 12 infusion centers across Tennessee and northern Arkansas. Terms weren’t disclosed. Deal financing was led by a preferred equity investment from healthcare private-equity firm Linden Capital Partners, and was joined by existing venture backers McKesson Ventures, Health Velocity Capital and Nueterra Capital.

EdiGene Inc., a Beijing-based developer of genome-editing technologies for the acceleration of drug discovery, completed a ¥450 million ($67 million) Series B round led by 3H Health Investment. Additional new investors Sequoia Capital China, Alwin Capital and Kunlun Capital also participated in the funding, along with existing backers IDG Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures, Huagai Capital and Green Pine Capital Partners.

Nimbus Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of novel treatments in the areas of metabolic disease, oncology and inflammation, raised $60 million from RA Capital Management and BVF Partners. RA Capital’s Laura Stoppel joins the company’s board.

Cedilla Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based startup developing targeted small molecules for the treatment of cancer and other diseases caused by protein dysregulation, closed a $57.6 million Series B round. Casdin Capital and Boxer Capital of Tavistock Group co-led the investment, and were joined by Eli Lilly & Co., Schroder Adveq, Third Rock Ventures and others. Eli Casdin of Casdin Capital and Dominik Naczynski of Boxer Capital will join the board.

RayzeBio Inc., a San Diego-based radiopharmaceutical medicine developer, secured $45 million in Series A funding. Versant Ventures and venBio Partners co-led the round, which included participation from Samsara BioCapital.

Priothera Ltd., a Dublin-based developer of therapies to treat acute myeloid leukemia, picked up €30 million ($35.3 million) in Series A funding from Fountain Healthcare Partners, HealthCap, EarlyBird Venture Capital and funds managed by Tekla Capital Management. Fountain Healthcare’s Manus Rogan, HealthCap’s Mårten Steen and Tekla Capital’s Henry Skinner joined the board.

Ori Biotech Ltd., a London-based cell and gene therapy manufacturing startup, landed $30 million in Series A financing. Northpond Ventures and Octopus Ventures led the round, which included support from Amadeus Capital Partners, Delin Ventures and Kindred Capital.

Instylla Inc., a Bedford, Mass.-based developer of minimally invasive products for use in peripheral vascular embolotherapy, collected $25.4 million in Series B financing. New investors Excelestar Ventures, Catalyst Health Ventures and Amed Ventures were joined by previous backers Ascension Ventures, Sparta Group and Incept in the round. Excelestar’s Tasneem Dohadwala and Catalyst Health Ventures’ Darshana Zaveri will join the board.

Nym Health, a Tel Aviv-based provider of automated health care revenue cycle management, fetched a $16.5 million Series A round. GV led the investment, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Dynamic Loop Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Tiger Global and others.

Chord Therapeutics, a Geneva-based startup developing new oral treatments for rare autoimmune diseases, launched with a $16 million Series A round from Omega Funds. Managing Director Claudio Nessi and Principal Francesco Draetta will join the company’s board.

Numan, a London-based digital health clinic for men, closed a £10 million ($13 million) Series A funding round. Novator led the investment, with Partner Birgir Már Ragnarsson joining the board. Anthemis Exponential, Vostok New Ventures and Colle Capital also invested in the round.

Playbook, a New York-based mobile fitness marketplace enabling trainers to turn their iPhone content into subscription income, raised $9.3 million in Series A funding from investors including e.ventures, Abstract, Aglae Ventures, Porsche Ventures and FJ Labs.

Advanced NanoTherapies Inc., a developer of medical devices to treat atherosclerosis and blockage for coronary artery disease and peripheral artery disease, was seeded with a $5.3 million investment from Cleveland Clinic, ForMed Ventures and others.

Lassogen Inc., a San Diego-based startup developing a new class of peptide therapeutics, obtained a $4.5 million seed investment. Playground Global led the round, with participation from Better Ventures, First In Ventures, Tsingyuan Ventures and others. Phyllis Whiteley, venture partner at Playground Global, will join the board.

• Pandemic pets push industry stocks to pricey valuations
   
• China drugmaker gives unproven Covid-19 vaccine to students going abroad
   
• UnitedHealth profit declines, reflecting return to more usual health-care levels
   
• Europe overtakes U.S. in new cases of Covid-19
   
• Day-care centers are very low risk for Covid-19 transmission, study says

• Making money off masks, Covid-spawned chain store aims to become obsolete (Kaiser Health News)
   
• Months after achieving unicorn status, Orca steers into the fast lane with an RMAT designation for cell therapy candidate (Endpoints News)
   
• Genomics study points to the future of cancer clinical trials (Fierce Biotech)
   
• Charting the coronavirus pandemic over the next 12 months (STAT News)

Venture firm NGP Capital released a report on venture investing in Europe. Wednesday’s WSJ Pro VC newsletter misspelled the firm's name as NPG Capital.

This newsletter was compiled by Brian Gormley and Zachary Cole.

WSJ Pro Venture Capital is a premium service of The Wall Street Journal. We cover venture capital and the global startup ecosystem. Share your tips, comments and questions: vcnews@wsj.com

The Team: Matthew Strozier, Tomio Geron, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley and Marc Vartabedian.

Follow us on Twitter: @wsjvc, @tomiogeron, @ychernova, @BrianPGormley, @marcvarta.