Via Oncology’s success in growing its customer base as a leading provider of decision support for cancer care providers positioned the company to unlock the next phase of its growth through an acquisition by global science and health care publisher Elsevier, which is moving aggressively into the digital health space.
As announced Jan. 17, Elsevier, which publishes more than 2,500 digital journals, including Lancet and Cell, acquired Via Oncology – marking the first exit of a wholly owned UPMC Enterprises portfolio company since the division formed more than three years ago.
Via was created at Hillman Cancer Center in 2004 and commercialized by UPMC in 2009. Tal Heppenstall, President of UPMC Enterprises, said the company’s clinical content was highly valuable to Elsevier as the publisher works to integrate its content at the point of care.
“This transaction gives Via a greater opportunity to grow,” Heppenstall said.
Elsevier views Via as the “tip of the spear” in a strategy to expand into decision support, which complements and extends the company’s evidence-based content, said Dr. John Danaher, President of Clinical Solutions for Elsevier.
“What Via becomes is the most sophisticated example of our being able to deliver structured knowledge into the clinical work flow for a very significant medical disease category,” Danaher said.
Via has grown to serve more than 1,500 U.S. cancer care providers through its Via Pathways platform that helps cancer centers demonstrate their value by improving patient outcomes, reducing clinical errors, and optimizing costs and reimbursements.
While Elsevier is focused on integrating Via into their Clinical Solutions group in the near-term, Danaher said he has been very impressed with UPMC Enterprises’ commercialization efforts and UPMC’s leading research with academic partners – both of which he hopes will be the basis for continued partnership with UPMC.
“When I think about other large integrated delivery organizations that are trying to do what UPMC Enterprises is doing, what we found is that UPMC is the best fit for our strategic plans,” he said. “We’re very excited about what this can mean to us.”
Read more about the deal:
- Press release: Elsevier acquires Via Oncology, a leading provider of clinical decision support solutions for oncology professionals
- Healthcare IT News: Elsevier acquires Via Oncology, UPMC decision support spinoff
- Med City News: A clutch of clinical decision support deals from UPMC spinoff Via Oncology to GE Healthcare
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Dutch company acquires UPMC subsidiary that developed cancer care guidelines
