In this week’s edition of InnovationRx, we look at the richest five healthcare billionaires, Lilly’s first big AI success, Science Corp.’s brain implants, and more. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here.

This week, Forbes unveiled its annual Billionaires list, featuring 3,428 entrepreneurs, investors and heirs from around the world. That’s a record since we began tracking the fortunes of the ultra-wealthy in 1987. And while AI may have the spotlight, more than 260 billionaires made their money in healthcare, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, health tech and life sciences investing. These are the five richest:

Thomas Frist, Jr. & Family ($41.8 billion/United States)

The former Air force flight surgeon, now 87, founded Hospital Corporation of America with his father in 1968. Today, HCA Healthcare operates 190 hospitals and around 2,400 other ambulatory care sites in the U.S. and the U.K., and commands more than a quarter of the healthcare provider market in the United States..

Cyrus Poonawalla ($26.5 billion/India)

The son of a horse breeder, Poonawalla, now 84, founded Serum Institute of India in 1966 and has grown it into a powerhouse vaccine maker, producing 1.5 billion doses annually to protect patients against polio, flu and measles. In January, the company entered an agreement with Oxford University to develop a vaccine for Rift Valley fever.

Dilip Shanghvi ($26.3 billion/India)

Shanghvi, 70, borrowed $200 from his father in 1983 to start Sun Pharmaceuticals. Today, the publicly traded firm (market cap $47 billion) manufactures both drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients. It has expanded its dermatology portfolio in recent years and is also reportedly mulling an acquisition of women’s health company........

© Forbes