A new oncology treatment company dubbed Spesana is emerging out of stealth mode with a new molecular diagnostic decision support tool.

The platform is able to take information from a number of sources and synthesize information for providers. The way it works is Spesana’s tech can collect molecular diagnostic reports and coordinate them with EHRs, prior authorizations, payer processing, approved drugs and pathways, clinical trials and clinical literature, and scheduling, according to the startup.

The team at Spesana is led by Carla Balch, whose work as president and CEO or Altos Solutions put her on the digital health map. Altos Solutions was later acquired by Flatiron Health.

WHY IT MATTERS

The new company is pitching its technology as a way to help synthesize information. 

“Tremendous advances are being made on nearly every front of cancer research, but it’s frankly not being felt on the front lines of care,” Balch said in a statement. “The continuity of care is being lost through too many disconnections between physicians, specialists, molecular diagnostics, payers and pharma. An evidence-based approach has been supplanted by a paperwork-based approach that has more to do with bureaucratic prowess than clinical judgement. That’s unacceptable.”

Oncology care is in demand in the U.S., since there are approximately 1.8 million new cases of cancer diagnosed in the nation each year, according to the National Cancer Institute.

THE LARGER TREND

Oncology care has been moving increasingly digital. Flatiron, where Balch previously worked, is an oncology HER software. The company was acquired by pharma giant Roche in 2018 for $1.9 billion. 

But Flatiron wasn’t the only startup looking into cancer care. Finnish company Kaiku Health created a platform that allows patients to track symptoms over time and can alert doctors or researchers with updates. In May, the startup was acquired by Swedish oncology-focused tech firm Elekta. Kaiku’s technology is expected to be integrated into Elekta's Mosaiq Oncology Information system. 

The oncology space also saw another large M&A when remote-monitoring and decision-support startup Biofourmis announced its plans to acquire Takeda Pharmaceuticals’ Gaido Health, an oncology-focused digital tool. 

ON THE RECORD 

“It will take more than electronic medical record algorithms to move decision-making to where it’s needed,” said Balch. “As CEO of Altos Solutions, we created the first EMR-based decision support for oncology in 2008. While we were successful in moving healthcare from paper to digital records, the benefits of that process are declining without addressing the gap between reports, physicians and the EMR, not to mention the payer system.

"That’s why we’ve set about working with representatives of every stakeholder group to tackle that problem. We are doing it with a new approach, joining together the relevant data sources into a more streamlined decision support process.”