Allscripts and NantHealth announce deal

Allscripts and NantHealth have cross-invested £300 million in each other’s businesses, as part of a strategic partnership to develop a more personalised approach to healthcare.

Allscripts has purchased a 10% equity stake in NantHealth for $200 million in cash. NantCapital, the personal investment vehicle of Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, founder of NantHealth, has made a $100 million investment into Allscripts.

The companies intend to jointly develop an API-based integration between their solutions. NantHealth has developed genomic and protein-based molecular diagnostics testing and applies this information to create personalised cancer treatment plans, while Allscripts is an electronic patient record system provider.

“Research has shown that a physician's ability to make effective, evidence-based clinical decisions can improve by using specifically matched cancer protocols and drugs, delivered to the patient based on the individual's unique DNA, RNA and proteomic profile, and integrated with the patient's holistic clinical picture,” a statement announcing the investments says.

“For the first time, NantHealth and Allscripts can integrate these two aspects into a unique knowledge-based solution to significantly improve the way clinicians treat cancer.”

Stuart Miller, Allscripts’ senior vice president and managing director Europe, told Digital Health News the relationship with Nanthealth is part of a drive towards personalised medicine based around genomics.

“Sunrise [the company’s suite of clinical systems] is already capable of being able to take data related to genomic markers in the DNA and use emerging science out there to support clinicians to make smarter decisions,” he said.

“Very exciting things are starting to happen in that area. It really does become significant because with large volumes of data from sequencing DNA, you need an informatics platform capable of helping you explore that data once it becomes available.”

Read more about Allscripts’ plans for the UK health market in Insight.