Hearst, a market leader in healthcare technology has announced an equity investment in M2Gen, a health informatics subsidiary of Moffitt Cancer Center, one of the top comprehensive cancer centers in the United States. This partnership will help accelerate the discovery of innovative cancer therapies and improve care for patients nationwide. In addition, the collaboration will provide funding to expand the efforts of the nation’s first major data sharing network among leading cancer institutions. The amount of the equity investment was not disclosed.
A pioneer in big data for healthcare, M2Gen’s innovative Total Cancer Care (TCC) protocol was developed to enable better research of cancer and patients, tracking each patient throughout his or her lifetime, and using this information to drive novel therapies and advancements in care. Cancer therapy researchers gain access to this clinical and genetic information to help accelerate new drug discovery and match cancer patients to clinical trials.
“Moffitt’s culture is rooted in teamwork and collaboration. It is why we have been so successful at developing new treatments and bringing them to cancer patients,” said Moffitt President and CEO Alan F. List, MD. in a statement “Adding Hearst to M2Gen’s strengths will magnify the work we are doing and help define the future of innovation in cancer care worldwide. Patients will benefit profoundly.”
In 2014, Moffitt, M2Gen and The Ohio State University built upon the legacy that began in 2006 with the creation of the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN)—the first-ever national cancer data sharing network, which currently includes 17 U.S. cancer care institutions.
Hearst has offered healthcare information solutions since 1980, and its Hearst Health division, led by President Gregory Dorn, MD, includes the market-leading companies First Databank (FDB), Zynx Health, MCG, Homecare Homebase and MedHOK, acquired in 2016 and also based in Tampa. Solutions from Hearst Health span the clinical, pharmacy, home and hospice care, and health insurance markets. Each year in the U.S., care guidance from the Hearst Health network reaches 84 percent of discharged patients, 177 million insured individuals, 60 million home health visits and 3.1 billion dispensed prescriptions.
“This partnership with Hearst will allow us to invest in the people, technology and cancer center partners throughout ORIEN that will improve quality, safety and efficiency within the healthcare system and increase patient engagement with the patient as an active participant in their own journey,” said M2Gen President and CEO Timothy R. Wright in a statement. “Ultimately, this will lead us to being able to provide clinical decision support tools at the point of care based on the learnings from the hundreds of thousand patient partners in Total Cancer Care.”
