The Cancer Moonshot
TOGETHER WE CAN END CANCER AS WE KNOW IT Companies to Watch / SAVOR HEALTH
This Entrepreneur is Helping Cancer Survivors Beat the Odds Through Personalized Nutrition PREFACE Cancer has caused so much devastation that the word itself has become a potent metaphor for that which consumes as it grows. It claims the lives of millions, shattering families across every bracket of age, geography and economic status. By 2030, the number of new cancer cases per year is expected to top 23 million. Chances are, you know someone personally who has battled cancer. And if you don’t, you unfortunately most likely will. Ending cancer as we know it is going to take true moonshot thinking. A global cancer moonshot is built on a level of collaboration we’ve never seen before. It’s going to require breaking down data silos between academic institutions, reaching across political aisles, and even sacrificing personal egos. Moonshot thinking also means seeing the problem in completely new ways. “When it comes to the cancer moonshot, everyone always asks about the lab,” says Howard Krein, MD, PhD, a member of the Biden Cancer Initiative board of directors. “Will immunotherapies work? But if you want to cure cancer, there are some very simple things that you can do. Like making sure that colonoscopies are readily available to everyone across the globe.” To defeat cancer once and for all, we are rallying under a global Cancer Moonshot that will break down silos, weave new partnerships and rethink the very problem before us.
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Issue 3
StartUp Health Magazine
At the time of diagnosis, 90 percent of cancer patients experience addressable nutritional issues that result in poor clinical outcomes (mortality and morbidity), high symptom burden resulting in poor quality of life, and increased spending. Savor Health addresses these nutritional issues through its personalized technology platform and Intelligent Nutrition Assistant (Ina™) chat bot which relies on evidence-based protocols, clinical best practices and a patient’s own unique data. Ina’s personalized and clinically-appropriate nutrition recommendations support patients from diagnosis into survivorship. The Savor Health technology is licensed by healthcare enterprises (primarily pharma today), through a SaaS model, and is offered for free to patients.
Leadership Profile Susan Bratton, CEO and founder, started Savor Health after losing a friend to terminal cancer. She identified a significant unmet need in oncology that had meaningful clinical, quality of life and cost implications for all healthcare stakeholders. Recognizing the positive impact she could have on people like her friend Eric and his family, she quit her investment banking job to start Savor Health. Jessica Iannotta, COO, is an oncology-credentialed Registered Dietitian who has worked in the Northwell Health System for more than 15 years. Cary Jardin, CTO, a successful serial entrepreneur, who sold IPivot to Intel in 1999 for $500 million, rounds out the team. His research created a breakthrough in parallel data processing which led to a $275 million technology acquisition by Microsoft. How it Works Nearly everyone undergoing treatment for cancer experiences trouble eating, from physical swallowing difficulties to getting the right nutrients that keep your body strong before, during and after chemotherapy. Yet only 20% of patients