Download This McLean company wants to make it easier to analyze

WASHINGTON BUSINESS JOURNAL
JANUARY 26, 2017
This McLean company wants to make
it easier to analyze your tumor
TINA REED
Washington Business Journal
Precision medicine has gotten its fair share of
hype.
But for those diagnosed with cancer, actually
getting that kind of care — specifically tailored
diagnosis and treatment based on a patient’s molecular profile — is still fairly challenging.
“You can’t just call up a lab and say, ‘I want precision medicine,’” said Chip Petricoin, a George
Mason University professor and chief scientific
officer of McLean-based precision medicine company Perthera Inc.
Now his 28-employee company is trying to
change that, he said. It’s begun to sell its services
directly to consumers in an effort to democratize
the availability of precision medicine no matter
where a patient gets care.
Perthera recently earned a major vote of confidence from drug giant Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS),
announcing a collaboration with the pharmaceutical company to identify breast and lung cancer
patients for targeted therapy clinical trials. The
company also recently provided analysis to its
1,000th pancreatic cancer patient as part of the
Pancreatic Cancer Action Network “Know Your
Tumor” campaign.
“The goal is to become the global leader in
precision medicine,” said Doug Poretz, the company’s chief marketing officer. “And we think this
market is wide open.”
While the company doesn’t have an exact figure for just how large that market is, they cited
estimates of 14 million new cancer patients globally a year. That would work out to a multibillion-dollar market opportunity at a cost of about
$1,000 per patient. “That’s a monster market,”
Poretz said.
Perthera was founded several years ago by Petricoin, as well as Northern Virginia serial entrepreneur Dendy Young. They started the company
to offer precision medicine testing and analysis to
patients in a way that kept doctors at the center of
the care team, Petricoin said.
In June, the company raised $8.7 million in
Series A funding from Pilot Growth Equity, a
technology growth equity firm with offices in San
Francisco, New York and D.C.
TINA REED
Perthera CEO Andrew Mignatti, left, and Chief Scientific Officer Chip Petricoin
offers an analysis for cancer treatment recommendations based on a patient’s
molecular profile.
As for Perthera’s process, normally individual
patients who have been diagnosed with cancer
reach out to it first, though the patient’s oncologist has to ultimately order the testing. “When a
patient is diagnosed with cancer, they become
incredibly motivated to find as much information
as they can,” Petricoin said. “We’re here to help
them do that.”
Tissue samples from the patient’s cancer biopsy are mailed to the company. Those samples
are then shipped to select vendor labs. Results
from those tests are entered into a database to
compare the patient tumor’s molecular information against potential drugs that might target the
cancer.
That analysis is sent to a virtual tumor board, or
a collection of cancer specialists from around the
country who review and confer about the course
of action they would each recommend. Ultimately, the patient’s oncologist receives that information for consideration in their treatment plan.
So far, Perthera said more than 30 percent of
patients who have used its analysis have accessed
a clinical trial, compared with an average of about
3 percent.
The company has several revenue streams, including agreements with drug companies such
as Novartis to connect patients to clinical trials.
It also makes money from selling access to its IT
platform to physicians to allow them to share data
and communicate. And it contracts with cancer
patient advocacy groups and sells to patients directly.
In the end, however, the goal is insurance coverage. “They’ve said ‘If you can show us the utility,
then come talk to us,” Petricoin said of insurers.
This article appeared in the online edition of the Washington Business Journal on January 26, 2017. It has been reprinted by the Washington Business Journal
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