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| Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong |
Famed biotech entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong opted to unveil core details on his patient monitoring company NantHealth at this week's JP Morgan Healthcare conference. The private company has already spent $1.5 billion in the past decade to enable patient monitoring and real-time data analysis that examines the patient experience in the hospital and at home via connected medical devices, as well as to cost and outcomes data that's available via mobile devices.
"This is the first coming-out story of who we are; we've been in relative stealth mode," Soon-Shiong told a rapt conference audience.
Soon-Shiong said that 45% to 65% of cancer patients in the U.S are getting the wrong treatment because physicians aren't incorporating the latest research developments into their approach to care. At Dec. 31, about 4,000 U.S. oncology practices, or roughly 70% of those in the country, were already using NantHealth tools to improve patient treatment to result in improved outcomes and lower costs, he said, adding that for practices that have integrated NantHealth's care coordination tool, inappropriate care is being greatly reduced or eliminated. He reported a similar outcome for NantHealth's medication adherence too.
Payers are starting to respond already. He said that insurer Healthpoint is paying physicians $350 a month to use NantHealth's decision support tool that incorporates a massive amount of data including medical journals as well as outcomes and cost data. The company has the world's largest genomic and exonomic database that's comprised of about 10 petabytes of data.
Soon-Shiong noted the $1.2 billion deal for Roche ($RHHBY) to acquire a greater-than-50% stake in cancer genomic analysis competitor Foundation Medicine ($FMI) that was disclosed today. He said that Foundation Medicine measures 300 genes, while NantHealth measures 22,000 genes--within 20 seconds.
"We are a decision support engine that is able to give learning in real time. A patient walks in and walks out of the hospital knowing cost and outcomes," said Soon-Shiong. "This was an audacious idea and we have $1.5 billion of actual spend. We have integrated patient records across brands, the financial system, laboratory data, genomic data, smart wearable devices and, the most exciting, are pushing it onto mobile platforms.
He went on to describe NantHealth as an integrated care solution across the hospital and the home, and said that the system works with medical devices that monitor more than 250 vital signs. These devices are used to automatically populate patient medical records.
To further advance its mission, Soon-Shiong said NantHealth has raised about $818 million in the last six months from sovereign wealth funds and private equity groups. This total includes a $320 million Series B that the company had raised as of early October that included sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority alongside Verizon, hematology oncology giant Celgene ($CELG), Blackberry ($BBRY) and Blackstone.
Last week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NV, Blackberry and NantHealth launched the second generation of the NantHealth HBox, a portable medical device that captures and transmits secure medical data between the patient, doctor and hospital.
Soon-Shiong sold his Abraxis BioScience to Celgene in 2010 for $2.9 billion, from whence came the cancer drug Abraxane. He said that NantHealth comes out of Abraxis Bioscience's health business, which Soon-Shiong subsequently reacquired.
NantHealth has also brought in new President Robert Watson, who was previously the President and CEO of the company's partner Streamline Health Solutions ($STRM).