PatientsLikeMe is getting a huge cash infusion while also expanding its genomics capabilities.
The patient social network on Thursday announced at least $100 million in new investment, courtesy of a partnership with Chinese startup iCarbonX. Longtime PatientsLikeMe backer Invus LP also participated in the round.
As a result, PatientsLikeMe is joining the iCarbonX Digital Life Alliance, a network of health IT, diagnostics and biotech companies that also includes SomaLogic, HealthTell, AOBiome and others. iCarbonX will provide “multi-omics” services to PatientsLikeMe, according to a press release.
“The ecosystem we’re creating will connect biology, experience and AI so that we can learn how diseases manifest in the body over time, and how our everyday actions contribute to their progression,” iCarbonX founder Jun Wang said. “PatientsLikeMe will be at the core of this ecosystem as we digitize, analyze and share insights and knowledge that can improve lives.”
That was the largest digital health investment deal of the day, not counting the outright acquisition of Jiff by Castlight Health, but it was not the only one.
Ratings site Reputation.com scored a $20 million investment from Ascension Ventures, an affiliate of Ascension Health. That company has plenty of money already, but is looking to beef up its presence in healthcare. (Click here for additional coverage.)
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
And, just days after GE Ventures Managing Director Noah Lewis wrote about how the VC arm of General Electric was bullish on healthcare analytics, GE Ventures teamed with the Merck Global Investment Fund in a $30 million growth round for Arcadia Healthcare Solutions.
Burlington, Massachusetts-based Arcadia will use the money to add functionality to its analytics platform, CEO Sean Carroll told MedCity News. “We will expand our infrastructure to support new demand,” Carroll said.
That demand is for coupling clinical data from multiple electronic health records systems with claims information, and it is coming from the rise of value-based reimbursement, according to Carroll.
Despite Republican threats to repeal the Affordable Care Act — including the parts that allow Medicare to shift away from fee-for-service payments — Arcadia is not changing its strategy. “We feel reasonably confident that the fundamentals of value-based care are here to stay,” Carroll said.
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