Field: Big data in healthcare
Capital raised: $4 million
Data2Life built an analytical platform to analyze and cross reference the Big Data in Healthcare. The platform facilitates holistic analysis of all existing health information from all sources, from electronic medical records to reports by patients on social networks and various applications. "Use of the platform is turning what were once fragments of information into a complete picture. We're like an intelligence agency for medical information. The mass of information that we get from patients and doctors is huge". The company was established on 2014 through a collaboration of Epstein and Dr. Itzik Lichtenfeld , an experienced entrepreneur, specializing in risk management.
"Take, for example, the profile of a drug and its effects on patients. In the real world, they will rely on research for which people have been very carefully selected. After the drug is approved and is actually used, they discover that it has side effects that did not come to light in research. This is where our platform comes in; it tests the drug on millions of patients using big data. Our products are able refine verified insights, such as early identification of dangerous side effects in drugs that have gone to market.
"There is potential for saving lives, avoiding suffering, and cutting costs for the system here - the estimated cost of morbidity and annual mortality due to side effects is $177 billion in the US alone. "
"Our data come from drug companies that maintain their own databases, regulatory agencies (such as the FDA and European Medicines Agency), HMOs, health service providers (health funds and hospitals), health apps, social networks, and online support groups for patients reporting their user experiences with drugs in great detail."
"I founded the startup during maternity leave, but the idea had been brewing for a long time before when I was analyzing patients on social networks. I realized that drug companies needed these big data. The industry is on the verge of a radical change. Digitalization of the traditional healthcare environment will affect every person in the world."
"In the entrepreneurship race, there's a tendency to fall in love with the product. The involvement in development frequently makes the entrepreneur blind to the needs of the market and the value that he or she is looking for. That's how we operated for over two years.
"Fortunately, we were exposed to potential customers, who made us realize that our product was too 'advanced' for the market's current need.
"It was very frustrating to realize that the work we had done and the product we had developed had undergone dumbing down, but the trick is to read the signs that the market gives you. From this insight, we started simplifying the product and making it leaner and more economical."
