Health IT

NantHealth acquiring Chicago precision medicine startup Health Heritage

Dr. William Knaus, who created Health Heritage, has been executive director for clinical research informatics at NantHealth since September.

NantHealth, the informatics and analytics part of Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong’s burgeoning NantWorks empire, is acquiring genomic medicine startup Health Heritage from NorthShore University HealthSystem in the Chicago area.

A source with knowledge of the negotiations said that a deal was signed about a month ago. Dr. William Knaus, who created Health Heritage, has been executive director for clinical research informatics at NantHealth since September, according to his LinkedIn page.

Also said to have joined Culver City, California-based NantHealth is Leigh Baumgart, a former research scientist in NorthShore’s Center for Biomedical Research Informatics, which housed Health Heritage. Health Heritage software architect Jack Leitch’s LinkedIn page shows that he has been with NantHealth since July.

Health Heritage is an online genomic medicine decision support application that aggregates and analyzes data from medical records, genetic tests and family history to assess disease risk. It helps healthcare providers decide on the most appropriate testing and therapy for high-risk patients, avoid unnecessary testing for those without much risk and produces the medical justification insurers seek before paying for genetic screening.

Evanston, Illinois-based NorthShore, which operates four hospitals in Chicago’s northern suburbs, launched the app in May 2014, initially focusing on early detection of cancer. This meshes well with Soon-Shiong’s quest to cure cancer.

Funding was rapidly running out for Health Heritage before NantHealth stepped in, according to the source, who asked not to be identified due to the nature of the negotiations. This source said that Soon-Shiong views Health Heritage as a potential flagship product for NantHealth.

Both NorthShore and NantHealth declined comment for this story.

The acquisition will continue the record of NantHealth rolling up or partnering with other companies in implementing Soon-Shiong’s vision:

  • In July 2015, NantHealth bought the commercial health IT business of government contracting giant Harris Corp.
  • In June, NantHealth scored a $200 million investment from electronic health records vendor Allscripts and another Soon-Shiong company, NantCapital, bought $100 million in Allscripts stock.
  • In February 2014, NantHealth unveiled the cOS (Clinical Operating System), an open, cloud-based platform for collecting and processing data to help deliver safer, more accountable care. Nant had acquired this technology when it bought health IT startup Net.Orange, a company that survives as a NantHealth subsidiary.
  • In June 2014, Celgene made a $100 million investment in NantHealth.
  • At the very beginning of 2014, Nant closed on its acquisition of medical device connectivity vendor iSirona.
  • Oncology-specific clinical decision support vendor Eviti
  • In November 2011, NantHealth bought Ziosoft and changed that imaging analytics company’s name to Qi Imaging.

Other companies under Soon-Shiong’s NantWorks umbrella have been busy in the acquisition market as well.

Image: NorthShore University HealthSystem

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