A website to crowdsource solutions to patients’ medical mysteries sounds more like a sequel to House than anything to do with the world of Grey’s Anatomy. But an actor from the series has taken on the role of angel investor in the healthcare IT company, CrowdMed, and participated in its $2.4 million seed round.
Patrick Dempsey made his first investment in the company as an angel investor alongside NEA, Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Y Combinator and SV Angel. The funds will be used to advance its technology capabilities and to support marketing.
Dempsey set up a cancer center in Maine to provide free support, education and medicine services to people impacted by cancer after his mother developed ovarian cancer. He said he was motivated to invest in the company for some of the same reasons he started a cancer center: to help give people options and answers as they struggle with a serious condition.
Here’s how it works. Patients can post their real-world, difficult-to-solve medical cases online, including information about their symptoms, health history, and diagnostic test results. The company shares the case with a pool of medical experts and fellow patients, dozens of whom collaborate on solving the case online using the company’s prediction market technology. Patients are encouraged to discuss the community’s diagnostic suggestions with their physician. They can offer cash rewards to spur more medical detectives to take on the case. An interactive patient chat lets medical detectives ask patients questions about their case or ask for additional information.
So far, about 78 percent of patients who have been diagnosed that it has successfully tracked have reported that the diagnosis they received through the site turned out to be accurate.
When the patient comes back with their diagnosis, the website closes the case and rewards medical detectives. If a patient fails to report back the company cashes out the most probable best diagnostic suggestion based on its algorithm, according to the website.
The company charges a 10 percent commission on cash rewards offered by patients. Future versions of the business model may use third-party payers.
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.
Dempsey’s high-profile could help attract more attention to angel investing in the healthcare space. It will be interesting to see if he participates in subsequent rounds.
