One of the greatest challenges clinical decision support programs have is moving beyond a general alert to providing specific, timely, and useful information. Oncology seems like an ideal proving ground for this, given the complexity of cancer treatment and myriad factors that can help or hinder its treatment.
Two-thirds of cancer patients receive radiation as part of their initial treatment. But research suggests that half of these patients are at great risk of toxicity due to less than optimal radiation treatment planning.
That’s where Oncora Medical comes in. The predictive analytics startup focuses on radiation therapy and raised $1.2 million in seed financing from iSeed Ventures, BioAdvance, and medical physicist-entrepreneur, Dr. Thomas “Rock” Mackie. Oncora will use the funding to hire three to five engineers and roll out early product installations with a group of health systems.
Oncora Medical, cofounded by David Lindsay and Chris Berlind in 2014, took part in the DreamIt Health accelerator, and is currently part of the University City Science Center Digital Health Accelerator’s second batch of startups.
In emailed responses to questions put to Oncora Medical Co-founder David Lindsay, he said what distinguishes it from the likes of Flatiron Health, IBM Watson Health and other companies in the clinical decision support space is its focus on radiation oncology. Lindsay sees it as an interesting niche.
“I think the needs of these highly technical physicians require a unique solution. That said, I think as the industry matures, more standards around clinical decision support will emerge, allowing physicians to bolt solutions together to fit their needs.”
Lindsay said physicians can use its Web-based application for data visualization. “There are many instances where physicians may want to include radiation therapy specific information into a more general EMR system. We’re closely following continued improvements to HIT interoperability (like FHIR) and we’re building our product to adhere to these emerging standards.”
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.
Oncora Medical is primarily interested in lung, breast, head and neck cancers, in which radiation therapy tends to get used more often than not.
“These treatments will minimize the risk of toxicities while maximizing the chance for a cure,” Lindsay said. “This is a big step towards personalized oncology care.”
Dr. Gary Kurtzman, Safeguard Scientifics managing director for healthcare, will join Oncora’s board of directors as its chairman. Kurtzman, who teaches a class in healthcare entrepreneurship at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, said in a statement that Lindsay brought the early plans for Oncora to the class and had continued to develop it ever since.
Photo: FreeDigitalPhotos user Twobee
