Harvard doctors backed by Li Ka-shing try a fix for cancer care

SHANGHAI: A pair of Harvard-trained American oncologists, backed by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, are attempting to harness technology to revamp cancer care. They’re taking some of their earliest steps in China – cancer’s ground zero.

China has the world’s largest number of cancer patients, yet specialised treatment is in such short supply that patients must often travel long distances to top hospitals, living in dilapidated housing for months for short oncologist visits.

That problem has begun drawing the attention of big name investors, and Li, one of Asia’s richest men, in 2015 became the first funder for the physicians’ startup, called Driver.

Other investors joined, and now backed with US$100mil, the firm is developing technology to give cancer patients more control over their care. It begins formally signing up patients in China and the US this week, after a 17-month trial run with several hundred people.

The hope is to use technology to address a perennial problem at the heart of global oncology.

Cancer drugs and experimental treatments have exploded, and US$133bil worldwide is spent on these medicines each year, according to researcher Iqvia Institute. Yet, patients often can’t find all the available options, except filtered through an overworked oncologist.

Researchers, meanwhile, can’t always stay abreast of other studies – sometimes even inside their own vast medical institutions.

Driver’s solution? The startup’s labs in San Francisco and southern China analyse patient tumors, DNA and other medical records.

Then an app shows patients the best treatments and clinical trials globally that match their specific tumours. Driver works in both countries. — Bloomberg