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Function Health's acquisition of whole-body scan MRI company Ezra exemplifies health care M&A in a "Make America Healthy Again" regime. 

The big picture: There's increased urgency around chronic illness prevention  at the deal table and at the policy level. 

Zoom in: The combined company will sell Ezra's FDA-cleared 20-minute body scan for $499 — significantly less than the initial $1,500 price floor. 

"I've had this vision for Ezra from day one to have a really, really affordable, scalable full-body scan," says Ezra CEO Emi Gal. "But we never had the kind of breadth of customers and expansion ability ... Now we can do that."

Inside the room: The deal took about five months to close, says Function co-founder and chief medical officer Mark Hyman.

"(Ezra CEO) Emi came over for Rosh Hashanah dinner at my house in September, and that was when we started chatting," Hyman says.

The two began discussing a commercial partnership, but soon pivoted to a transaction.

The companies declined to comment on deal structure or how it was financed.

Catch up quick: Per PitchBook, Function raised $300 million in February at a $2.2 billion pre-money valuation — a timeframe that would line up with the Ezra deal. BroadLight Capital, Redpoint Ventures and SV Angel led.

Function CEO Jonathan Swerdlin declined to comment.

How it works: Function's $499 annual membership lets patients schedule a 15-minute lab test that claims to track biomarkers for cardiac conditions, cancer signals, autoimmunity and other disease areas. Hyman says it has 200,000 members. 

Ezra's FDA-cleared, full-body MRI scan uses AI to rapidly screen for cancer and 500-plus medical conditions. 

Both Ezra and Function can be paid for with HSA and FSA dollars.

💭 Erin Brodwin's thought bubble: Ezra's sole focus on cancer — which always requires a confirmatory diagnosis via biopsy — helps defend it against the criticism that generalized body scanning puts unnecessary pressure on already-strapped health systems. 

Zoom out: Ezra and others are "selling empowerment and control to a demographic that wants that," says West Monroe director Michael Schnell.

Doctor buy-in will partly determine how much these providers can scale, he says. 

"It can get pretty [capital] intensive," he says. "These imaging machines are not cheap, and everything here you're talking about is done in a brick and mortar setting, right?" 

What's next: Ezra's started talks with life insurers for reimbursement, Gal says. "Over time, I think we'll move into the payer side. That's a little bit harder. We need to have national footprint."

What we're watching: Function's goal is to "create a whole ecosystem which helps people to be empowered in their health" — and the company could pursue more acquisitions to that end, Hyman tells Axios.

Yes, but: Hyman cautions nothing is imminent — and Swerdlin took a much leerier stance.

"There's no foreseeable future where there will be other acquisitions," Swerdlin says.

The bottom line: "This is a broader ethos of folks saying they trust themselves. They trust the data they can go get from consumer retail businesses ... to prevent illnesses, more than they trust their traditional health care providers today," says Schnell.

"That seems like a durable trend that's going to continue to expand in terms of the services that businesses offer to meet it." 

Function Health buys whole-body scan startup Ezra

The thinking behind the deal is "Make America Healthy Again" exemplified.

Illustrataion of a doctor holding an MRI scan of a one hundred dollar bill.

Function Health&#x27;s acquisition of whole-body scan MRI company Ezra exemplifies health care M&amp;A in a &quot;Make America Healthy Again&quot; regime. The big picture: There&#x27;s <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="increased" data-vars-click-url="https://www.statnews.com/2025/03/26/maha-movement-state-laws-rfk-jr-make-america-healthy-again/" data-vars-content-id="4d785dfa-a8d0-453b-8dfb-33825d707953" data-vars-headline="Function Health buys whole-body scan startup Ezra" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.statnews.com/2025/03/26/maha-movement-state-laws-rfk-jr-make-america-healthy-again/" target="_blank">increased</a> urgency around chronic illness prevention at the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="deal table" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/pro/health-tech-deals/2025/02/13/prenuvo-la-announces-previous-120m-raise-new-fat-tests" data-vars-content-id="4d785dfa-a8d0-453b-8dfb-33825d707953" data-vars-headline="Function Health buys whole-body scan startup Ezra" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/pro/health-tech-deals/2025/02/13/prenuvo-la-announces-previous-120m-raise-new-fat-tests" target="_self">deal table</a> and at the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="policy level" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2025/04/10/rfk-chronic-disease-push-federal-doge-cuts" data-vars-content-id="4d785dfa-a8d0-453b-8dfb-33825d707953" data-vars-headline="Function Health buys whole-body scan startup Ezra" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2025/04/10/rfk-chronic-disease-push-federal-doge-cuts" target="_self">policy level</a>.

Function Health buys whole-body scan startup Ezra

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