NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Roche today said that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Flatiron Health, a maker of oncology-focused electronic health records.
Roche already held a nearly 13 percent stake in the New York City-based firm through an earlier investment. It said that it will pay $1.9 billion to Flatiron Health to close the deal, which is expected to occur in the first half of this year.
"This is an important step in our personalized healthcare strategy for Roche, as we believe that regulatory-grade, real-world evidence is a key ingredient to accelerate the development of, and access to, new cancer treatments," Roche Pharmaceuticals CEO Daniel O'Day said in a statement. "As a leading technology company in oncology, Flatiron Health is best positioned to provide the technology and data analytics infrastructure needed not only for Roche, but for oncology research and development efforts across the entire industry."
Flatiron has collaborated with the US Food and Drug Administration to determine how real-world evidence derived from patient data captured outside of clinical trials can provide insights into the safety and efficacy of new anti-cancer therapies. It also teamed with Foundation Medicine to develop an integrated data platform intended to help biopharma firms develop more effective oncology treatments.
Last year at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting, Flatiron and Foundation Medicine presented utility data on their so-called Clinico-Genomic Database, which integrates deidentified clinical data from cancer patients, such as diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes information from Flatiron's EHR data platform, with detailed genomic data from Foundation Medicine's registry comprising information for more than 100,000 cancer patients' samples.
Roche intends to preserve Flatiron's autonomy and said that after the closing it expects Flatiron to maintain its "current business model, network of partnerships, and overall objectives."