Investment Fund to Back Health Cost-Cutting Technologies

(Michigan.gov)

The West Health Investment Fund, an angel capital enterprise in San Diego, unveiled its first set of investments and plans to support other entrepreneurs developing health care technologies and services designed to lower the cost of health care. Gary and Mary West, who established the fund, expect to invest $100 million in early-stage companies.

The Wests, who founded in 2009 an institute encouraging wireless systems in health care, say they plan to back companies devising solutions that involve data analytics, technology-enabled services, cost transparency, and interoperability. They expect to target enterprises in pre-commercial or early commercial stages, and those with whom they can develop a strategic partnership.

The first companies supported by the fund include …

– Biological Dynamics in San Diego, developing diagnostics for early cancer detection and treatment monitoring, based on simple blood tests

– Change Healthcare in Brentwood, Tennessee building a decision-support system that provides employees with personalized views of pricing data and alerts highlighting opportunities to save money on routine care and prescriptions

– goBalto in San Francisco, devising a Web-based tool that enables clinical trial partners to collaborate more effectively, thus simplifying a complex process

– Healthsense Inc. in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, that is building remote safety and wellness monitoring systems for senior citizens based on standard Wi-Fi platforms

– Humedica in Boston, developing Web-based analytics technologies that connect patient data across multiple settings and time periods to provide a comprehensive longitudinal medical record

– Sotera Wireless in San Diego, a medical device company devising vital signs monitoring technologies to detect early indicators of deterioration in a patient’s condition

The Wests say they will not individually profit from the investments made by the fund, committing any returns to medical research. Unlike other investment funds, say the Wests, there are no management fees, no carried interest, and compensation for the management team is salaried.

Gary West notes the fund will help fill a need to provide financing for promising technologies that can pay off in lower health care costs for the population at large. “We have seen literally hundreds of companies focused on innovative and low cost health care solutions that cannot find funding,” says West.

Read more: Angel Early Stage Investments Gain in First Half of 2011

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