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In medicine, rare is often used to describe conditions that affect relatively few people. But when you work in healthcare long enoughespecially at the very beginning of lifeyou realize rare diseases are not rare at all. As a neonatologist, I cared for newborns whose symptoms didnt follow a familiar script. An infant struggling to breathe. A baby who couldnt feed. A child whose development stalled without a clear explanation. In the NICU, there is no luxury of time. Families are desperate for answers, and clinicians are making high-stakes decisions with incomplete information. Too often, we treated what we could see while suspecting there was something deeper we could not yet name. We ordered a multitude of tests and brought in specialists to consult, but days often turned into weeks. Sometimes answers came, but often they came too late to change the course of care. Those moments stay with you, and those are the moments that brought me here to GeneDx. THE HIGH COST OF UNCERTAINTY The phrase diagnostic odyssey is frequently used in healthcare, but it understates the reality for families. For patients with rare disease, the path to a diagnosis often stretches across yearsmarked by repeated hospitalizations, unnecessary procedures, and conflicting opinions. All the while, disease progresses and the emotional and financial burden on families quietly compounds. For clinicians, that uncertainty is more than frustrating; it limits our ability to act decisively. Without a precise diagnosis, treatments are often generalized rather than targeted, care coordination remains fragmented, and families are left carrying the burden of unanswered questions. From a system perspective, the consequences are significant: longer lengths of stay, higher costs, avoidable interventions, and missed opportunities for earlier, more effective care. What makes this particularly challenging is that, increasingly, we have the tools to do better. Genomic medicine has transformed our ability to identify the underlying causes of diseaseespecially in pediatrics and rare conditions where traditional diagnostic approaches fall short. When used early, genomic testing can shorten the path to answers from years to weeks, days, or even hours. It can inform clinical decisions, guide care planning, and help families understand what lies ahead. Over the past couple of years, genomic technology has evolved. Costs and turnaround time have declined significantly, shifting genomics from a theoretical solution to a viable tool in everyday clinical practice. Now, its a matter of increasing awareness and broadening access to all patients who could benefit. OPEN TESTING ACCESS As Rare Disease Month continues, the question is no longer whether we can diagnose rare disease more effectively, but whether we are willing to make those tools part of routine care. In other areas of medicine, advances that improve accuracy and outcomes eventually become standard practice. Standard newborn screening, imaging technologies, and clinical protocols did not remain optional once their value was clear. They became embedded in care. Genomics is at a similar inflection point. The opportunity before us is not simply technologicalit is systemic. Integrating genomics earlier into care pathways requires thoughtful implementation, clinician support, payer alignment, and real-world evidence. It requires collaboration across health systems, medical societies, advocacy groups, and policymakers. And it requires a shared understanding that earlier, more precise diagnoses are not an added extrathey are foundational to good medicine. A RARE OPPORTUNITY Rare disease challenges healthcare to be bettermore precise, more compassionate, and more proactive. It forces us to confront the limits of traditional diagnostic models and to rethink when and how we deploy the tools now at our disposal. For me, this work is deeply personal. It is shaped by years at the bedside, by conversations with families searching for answers, and by a belief that uncertainty should not be the default starting point of care. Over the course of my career, I have worked across nearly every layer of the healthcare systemas a practicing physician, a health system partner, and a clinical leader within payer and innovation organizations. Im bringing that experience with me as I help usher in the future of genomic medicine at GeneDx. Here I see a rare opportunity to help move genomics from the margins of medicine to its foundation, to shorten diagnostic journeys that have gone on far too long, and to build a healthcare system that delivers clarity when it matters most. Ending the diagnostic odyssey is not about technology alone. It is about trust. It is about giving clinicians the confidence to act and families the answers they deserve. And it is about recognizing that rare disease is not a niche problem, but something that impacts 1 in 10 Americans and thus, touches all of us. Linda Genen, MD, MPH, is chief medical officer of GeneDx.
Category:
E-Commerce
Youre invited to a holiday party with a dress codecocktail attire. Instead of panic-scrolling through a bunch of dresses that look great on someone else and questionable on you, you open your laptop. A runway show starts in your living room. The lighting is cinematic. The music hits. And every model walking the runway is YOU. Same body, same proportions, same posture. You toggle the scene from dramatic spotlights to natural daylight to a candlelit restaurant, watching how each dress moves and fits in real life before you pick the one that feels right. But this isnt just a better shopping experience; it is a design process that’s likely to yield an outfit that appeals more to you. Historically, garment design has been a slow and expensive process. A designer hands a sketch off to pattern makers and sample rooms. Time goes by. One physical sample comes back. The designer evaluates it on a single body type. Often, that body type is very specific. Every iteration is costly and constrained by physics and time. With AI, designers can sketch an idea and instantly see it rendered across fabrics, colors, environments, and a wide range of body types. They can iterate in real time, stress-test designs before cutting a single piece of fabric, and design with diversity rather than retrofitting it later. The result is faster timelines, fewer samples, and fashion built for real people, starting from the very first pixel. HOW AI ACCELERATES DESIGN AI also gives fashion designers more authorship. The designer doesnt have to rely solely on their intuition and experience to guess how something might work in the real world. They can simulate it with different fabrics, silhouettes, and colors, and test fit immediately. You can see how a silk bias-cut dress behaves on a tall body versus a petite one, how a structured jacket reads when someone sits, walks, or raises their arms. You can design for movement, not just a static pose. This is a sharp break from how inclusive sizing has traditionally worked. Brands used to design for one idealized sample size and then grade up or down later. Sometimes, that starting point may be a plus-size model, but even then, only one body type is considered for the design. With AI, you can start with many bodies at once, treating variation as a first-class design constraint instead of an afterthought. The tooling compounds into revenue by expanding who the product works for. On the consumer side, this changes the emotional relationship with clothing. Returns are one of the dirtiest secrets in e-commerce. People order three sizes, keep one, and ship the rest back. Not because theyre careless, but because the system gives them no better option. When you can see a garment on your body, in your lighting, and in your life, you dont need to guess anymore. None of this means fashion becomes automated or soulless. If anything, the opposite happens. When designers are freed from the slow, mechanical parts of the process, they can spend more time on taste, storytelling, and craft. Beyond the runway, people will ultimately see your work on a variety of body types. Now you can apply your creativity to designing garments with this in mind. AI expands the surface area where creativity can play. FINAL THOUGHTS Weve seen this movie before in other creative industries. Photography went digital. Music went from studios to laptops. Film editing moved from physical reels to software timelines. Each shift caused panic, then democratization, then an explosion of new voices and formats. Fashion has lagged because its physical by default. AI is the bridge that finally connects imagination to reality without so much friction in between. Yana Welinder is the founder of yanabanana.ai.
Category:
E-Commerce
Throughout Kim Kardashians two-decade career in the public eye, the reality TV stars entrepreneurial endeavors have included shapewear clothing brand Skims, makeup brand KKW Beauty, cofounding a private equity firm, and a super popular mobile game. But with her latest venture, Kardashian is stretching her mogul credentials into beverages, which has been familiar terrain for celebrities. She has become a cofounder of the energy drink company called Update. Though the startup has existed for four yearsmeaning Kardashian wasnt a day-one founderUpdates CEO and cofounder Daniel Solomons tells Fast Company that she has been a steady customer since 2023 and two years ago, began to offer feedback on the brands formula and packaging. Update isnt disclosing if Kardashian took an equity stake in the brand as part of her appointment as a cofounder, though Solomons says that she genuinely loved how the product made her feel. On Tuesday the upstart energy drink also announced a 4,000 store distribution deal with Walmart that begins on March 1. Before the Walmart deal, Update was primarily sold through direct-to-consumer channels, and Solomons noticed on his Shopify account that especially large orders were being placed by Kardashians team. He was able to reach out to her through mutual connections. Daniel Solomons [Photo: Update] That organically just turned into a situation where she was really excited to get involved, reached out, and wanted to partner up and formalize it, says Solomons. Im really bullish about the growth of the category and how we can add to that. REBRANDING THE TECH BRO ENERGY Solomons says Kardashian helped advise on Updates new packaging and product formulation. Solomons says the startups initial labeling was too masculine, tech bro and Update wanted to aspire to a design thats more gender neutral. The relaunched portfolio adds new grape and pineapple flavors and Update made tweaks to the berry, peach, and mandarin flavors, a process called reformulation. It is especially common for food and beverage startups to reformulate after they debut when they are able to get in-market consumer feedback. Solomons says the changes were intended to make the beverages more true to fruit, meaning as close to the real taste profile of, say, an actual pineapple. Update also involved Walmart, sending the retailer formula samples and packaging assets to get its feedback. Later this year, the brand expects to expand into additional major retailers and will launch more products beyond the core lineup. Solomons says Update also brings a distinct proposition to the market by using the lab-produced paraxanthine, rather than caffeine, as the active ingredient to deliver energy. There have been few studies on paraxanthine, though early research suggests that it is relatively safe. Paraxanthine is a compound that the human body produces after consuming caffeine and Solomons claims that it has a similar bitter taste profile, but doesnt have the jittery side effects that some experience when drinking caffeine-based coffee or energy drinks. BETTING ON A BUZZY, BOOMING CATEGORY Update is aiming to get a firmer foothold in the fast-growing U.S. energy drinks and shots market whose sales grew by 65% to $23.9 billion during a five-year period ending in 2024, according to Mintel. The market researcher estimates sales will hit $33.4 billion by 2029. It is a darling category right now, Duane Stanford, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, tells Fast Company. He says energy drinks sales are far outpacing coffee and tea, two rival caffeine-focused beverage categories. The market is dominated by three players that command 70% of sales: Monster Beverage, Red Bull, and Celsius Holdings. The larger players Monster Energy and Red Bull have lately reported double-digit sales increases, while Celsiuss revenue for the first nine months of 2025 jumped 75% from the prior year, as the core brand grew, but also due to the recent acquisitions of Rockstar Energy and Alani Nu, the later sold in colorful packaging and marketed heavily to women. Alani Nu was founded in 2018 by fitness influencer and coach Katy Hearn and sold five years later for $1.8 billion to Celsius. Monster and Celsius are expected to release their fourth-quarter earnings this Thursday. Energy drinks have benefited from a decades-long trend of favoring cold drinks over hot and, more recently, the skyrocketing price of coffee due to tariffs, which has led some shoppers to defect when looking for their energy fix. Celsius, in particular, has been credited with luring more female drinkers into a category that was traditionally marketed to extreme sports lovers, branding that was the core of both Red Bull and Monster. CELEBRITIES BOOST MARKETING, BUT DONT ENSURE LONGEVITY While Kardashians involvement will give Update a marketing jolt, especially through any support the star may offer through her Instagram and TikTok channels that have a combined 364 million followers, theres no guarantee that a celebrity-backed beverage brand will be a hit with consumers. Look no further than sports and energy drink brand Prime Hydration, which was founded by internet personalities Logan Paul and Olajide “KSI” Olatunji. Bloomberg reported it was set to surpass $1.2 billion in annual sales by the end of 2023, a mere two years after it launched. But sales have sputtered, with the Primes energy drink volume dropping 57% for the first nine months of 2025 from the prior-year period, according to Beverage Digest. Zoa Energy, cofounded by actor Dwayne The Rock Johnson, got a boost when it sold a majority stake to Molson Coors in 2024. But the five-year-old brand has less than 1% of the total U.S. energy drink market, which is also where Prime stands in the category. I suspect consumers are starting to get wary of it now, says Stanford. Because every celebrity has a beverage brand now. People can only consume so many drinks.
Category:
E-Commerce
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