NantWorks' Patrick Soon-Shiong has purchased a controlling stake in the Verity Health system, which includes six hospitals in California, Healthcare IT News reports.
It adds that this increases Soon-Shiong's presence in healthcare and could be a boon for his company NantHealth, which offers genomic testing. "This deal has the potential to help Soon-Shiong forward his precision medicine effort that relies on artificial intelligence to create personalized treatments for patients," Healthcare IT News writes.
However, Soon-Shiong's businesses have been under scrutiny lately. Stat News recently reported his Cancer MoonShot 2020 effort seems to be an "elaborate marketing tool" that promotes the use of NantHealth's GPS Cancer tool. Politico similarly reported that expenditures by Shiong's nonprofit research organization appeared to bolster his business activities. The Los Angeles Times adds that Soon-Shiong and businesses have said that the reports were inaccurate.
At the same time, the LA Times — which is owned by Tronc, a company in which Soon-Shiong is a major stockholder — notes that Soon-Shiong's firms have taken financial hits. For instance, it says that NantKwest lost a combined $357.7 million in 2015 and 2016 and that while NantHealth's revenue increased between 2015 and 2016, so did its losses.