42
CEO Emma Walmsley has replaced 100
managers and is focused on cancer treatmentsRedesigning
Glaxo
WhenGlaxoSmithKlinePlcboughtcancer-treatment
makerTesarofor$5.1billionlastyear,skepticspanned
thedeal,andthestocktumbled.OnJuly15 a key med-
icine acquired in the transaction yielded positive
results, a small victory in Chief Executive Officer Emma
Walmsley’s bid to overhaul the British drugmaker.THE BOTTOM LINE U.K. lawmakers and patient advocates say England’s
cash-strapped National Health Service should be compensated for the use of
its patient data.DraysonpromisestosafeguardthedataSensyne
collects.Researchersareallowedtoanalyzeit only
withina safelike,reinforced,“air-gapped”roomthathas
nointernetwiresin orout,andthusnoriskofviralattack.
Sensyneworkswithtrustsanda datawatchdog—called
a CaldicottGuardian—tooverseeprivacymeasuresand
determinewhetherproposedresearchprojectshavethe
potentialtoprovidevalueforpatients.Thecompany’s
clientsdon’tseeortakethedata:Theyonlyseethe
resultsoftheanalysis.
Draysonorchestrated thesale ofvaccine maker
PowderJecttoa U.S.rivalforabout$800millionin 2003,
whenheservedasthecompany’schiefexecutiveofficer.
Afterthesale,helandedanappointmenttotheHouse
ofLordsandservedinthegovernmentforfiveyears,
includinga stintasscienceministerfrom 2008 to2010.A
lifelongcarnutwhodroveasanamateurin the 24 Hours
ofLeMansin 2009and2010,hestartedDraysonRacing
Technologiestodevelopelectricracingvehicles.After
breakinghisbackina 2014crash,helefttheracetrack
andfoundedDraysonTechnologies,a medicaldevice
company.
Turningmedicalrecordsintocashcouldproveto
beDrayson’sbiggestchallengeyet.“FortheNHSto
continuedeliveringgreatcareinthefuture,it’sgot
tomeet its challenges,” he says. “How can it use that
data to improve care for patients and strengthen and
fund the NHS? It’s really important.” ——John LauermancomingreportfromEYconsultants,thedatacouldbe
worthasmuchas$12billionannuallyinbetterpatient
careandhealth,andbenefittotheU.K.economy.So
far,SensynehassignedupsixoftheNHS’s 150 hospital
divisions,knownastrusts,representingabout 3 million
patients, with each trust receiving Sensyne shares worth
about $3 million.
Private companies increasingly have tapped into the
NHS data—contracting with trusts for access or through
companies providing access—to inform their own efforts
to develop new drugs and devices. As rising costs, poorly
planned expansion, and the Brexit-fueled worker flight
threaten the NHS, U.K. lawmakers and patient advocates
say it should be compensated for its data. “Our issue is
that the IP value of patient data is being drained away by
Big Tech,” says Parry Mitchell, an independent member
of the House of Lords. “I wouldn’t call it a concern—it’s
an obsession.”
Governments, drugmakers, and hospitals are racing to
amass and exploit patient data. U.S.-based Intermountain
Healthcare just announced a partnership with Amgen Inc.
to map and study the genomes of half a million patients.
Israel is spending $300 million to commercialize its
patient health records. And companies such as Nebula
Genomics broker individual patients’ DNA data to buyers
in the health industry.
Drug companies are betting that patients’ records
documenting symptoms and side effects will help reduce
the need for costly human studies, thus lowering the
estimated $2 billion required to bring a new drug to
market. One of Sensyne’s more prominent customers
is German-based Bayer AG, which has a large U.K.
research facility. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs see apps to be
developed, devices to be designed, surgery techniques to
be refined, and post-operative protocols to be optimized,
all based on analysis of patients’ records. “The value
of the NHS is enormous,” says Kari Stefansson, who
founded Iceland’s Decode Genetics, now a unit of Amgen,
a quarter of a century ago to look for clues to disease
in genes and patient histories. “Just the familiarity and
comfort with these huge amounts of data are making
more discoveries possible,” he says.
Protections on patient information became tighter
with the introduction of new privacy laws last year.
Polling shows that U.K. residents are willing to share data
if it’s used to improve care, but they’re wary it will get into
the hands of companies that they fear won’t have their
best interests at heart. And any citizen has the right to
block the sale of his or her individual data.
Some of the NHS’s efforts to collaborate with
companies have gone awry. Five years ago, U.K. patients
were shocked to find that millions of medical records they
thought were for biomedical research were in fact shared
with insurance companies.◼ SOLUTIONS Bloomberg Businessweek July 22, 2019