Invitae scoops up client well being tech agency Ciitizen for $325M
Medical genetic firm Invitae will purchase client well being know-how firm Ciitizen for $325 million in a bid to make it simpler for sufferers to gather their genomic and scientific info.
Ciitizen, an organization backed by a number of traders together with 16z, Part 32 and Verily, is targeted on constructing a worldwide platform to assist sufferers gather, arrange, retailer and share their medical information digitally.
Invitae is working to mixture outcomes from the world’s genetic assessments right into a single, easy-to-use service that makes genetic info accessible to all who can profit from it. Over the previous 5 years, the corporate has accomplished 13 acquisitions which have expanded its testing menu, lowered the price of its assessments, improved its buyer expertise and enhanced its capacity to draw companions, in accordance with the corporate.
Invitae, which went public in 2015, raised greater than $1.4 billion for the reason that starting of 2021, partly to determine and purchase key belongings to increase its capabilities.
By bringing in Ciitizen, the corporate will be capable to develop a centralized hub for medical knowledge, together with shoppers’ genomic and scientific info, that may assist drive analysis and enhance healthcare decision-making, firm executives mentioned.
In a weblog put up, Ciitizen co-founder Anil Sethi mentioned the corporate’s mission was to “put the ability of medical knowledge within the fingers of the affected person.”
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“Our core worth stays the identical: that your knowledge belongs to you and also you get to resolve how it’s used and shared. Invitae, like Ciitizen, was based upon a patient-first philosophy and is dedicated to serving to you get the care you want whereas preserving your knowledge personal and safe. As at all times, we will solely share your knowledge along with your express consent,” Sethi wrote.
Sethi based Ciitizen in 2017 following the loss of life of his sister, Tania, who had metastatic breast most cancers. He was pushed to assist put sufferers accountable for their well being knowledge and join most cancers sufferers to doubtlessly life-saving scientific trials.
He famous that sufferers “depart a breadcrumb path of information behind them,” and entry to those real-world knowledge is vital to customized therapeutics sooner or later.
“The mix of lifelong well being historical past along with Invitae’s world-class genetic and knowledge providers would allow a digital ecosystem of customized providers for every affected person,” Sethi mentioned.
San Francisco-based Invitae launched in 2010 with a aim to deliver complete genetics into mainstream drugs to enhance healthcare for billions of individuals, Sean George, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Invitae, advised Fierce Healthcare.
“We’re doing this by aggregating the world’s genetic assessments right into a single service to make genetic info accessible to all who can profit from it, and the acquisition of Ciitizen is a significant step ahead in our mission,” he mentioned.
The acquisition propels Invitae from being a testing firm to a genetic testing, software program and well being info know-how chief, George famous.
“This acquisition strikes us nearer to our imaginative and prescient of an open-ended community of genetic and scientific info managed by sufferers and utilized to the betterment of their well being and that of their communities.”
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Ciitizen’s platform turns paperwork into computable, digital, related knowledge that can be utilized nevertheless sufferers want and unlocks the profit from their full vary of well being knowledge, George mentioned.
A most cancers affected person could also be seen by dozens of specialists throughout establishments, a lot of which can not have the affected person’s full well being historical past and knowledge—from their genetic testing outcomes to earlier therapies and household historical past. But there could also be necessary particulars in these knowledge that would lengthen their life. This is only one instance of how 1000’s of sufferers, their households and suppliers can profit from Invitae’s platform with the addition of Ciitizen.
“That patient-centric orientation additionally units them and us aside from the opposite knowledge corporations rising right this moment, whose technique is to mixture knowledge from numerous organizations and ship that knowledge to events for his or her profit—oftentimes with out the enter, permission or actual transparency to the sufferers themselves,” he mentioned.
Monetary phrases of the deal
Underneath the phrases of the deal, Invitae will purchase Ciitizen for $325 million, consisting of about $125 million in money and seven million shares of widespread inventory primarily based on common closing worth earlier than the settlement date. Invitae can even difficulty roughly $225 million in restricted inventory models to Ciitizen workers who be a part of Invitae as a part of the acquisition. The RSUs, which can cowl as much as 8.1 million shares of Invitae widespread inventory and vest in three tranches, will likely be given to 99 recipients, whereas Sethi will obtain RSUs comprising 2 million shares of Invitae widespread inventory.
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The deal comes as real-world affected person knowledge have gotten more and more helpful within the healthcare business.
There have been a number of main offers within the healthcare and life sciences areas specializing in advancing real-world knowledge and scientific analysis. Enterprise capital-backed Datavant is combining with scientific knowledge community Ciox Well being in a deal valued at $7 billion.
Well being IT large Cerner acquired the well being division of Kantar Group for $375 million to advance scientific analysis improvement. Cerner is setting its sights on constructing a $1 billion knowledge enterprise for the healthcare and life sciences industries primarily based on the acquisition.
EHR competitor Allscripts additionally has put vital funding in its Veradigm enterprise, which is the biggest linked EHR claims affected person database obtainable for analysis sourced from and straight related to scientific platforms.
Startups within the house are also attracting massive investments. Healthcare “map maker” Komodo Well being not too long ago netted $220 million in new funding to construct out its knowledge analytics platform for healthcare and life sciences analysis. The funding spherical propelled Komodo Well being to a $3.3 billion valuation, in accordance with the corporate.
