June 30--Southern California billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong said he plans to offer shares in his healthcare company to the public by the end of this year -- fueled by a big investment from an electronic medical records firm.
Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. disclosed Tuesday that it would pay $200 million for a 10% stake in Soon-Shiong's NantHealth firm, valuing it at $2 billion.
Soon-Shiong is also investing $100 million of his personal wealth in Allscripts, which is based in Chicago. The financial investments strengthen the partnership between the two companies, Soon-Shiong said.
NantHealth of Culver City seeks to combine medical data and patients' genetic information to find individualized cancer treatment. Together, the two companies will be able to combine diverse medical records and genetic information to seek personalized patient treatment, Soon-Shiong said.
By connecting all medical records with patients' genetic code, "We have a way of transforming healthcare," he said.
"For the first time, we've crossed the chasm from the anatomy of the human being, to the physiology of the human being to the molecular profile of the human being," Soon-Shiong said. "And we can relate that all to the treatment and the outcome."
A national pioneer in personalized cancer treatment and part owner of the Lakers basketball team, Soon-Shiong is the world's richest doctor and the wealthiest person in Los Angeles, with a net worth that Forbes recently pegged at $12.2 billion.
The partnership with Allscripts was a key step in getting NantHealth ready to go public, Soon-Shiong said.
"We feel we have one or two transactions to accomplish, then we will initiate the public offering that we anticipate will happen probably within this year," he said.
Paul M. Black, president and chief executive of Allscripts, said the two companies would both benefit from their partnership.
"Our joint efforts will help Allscripts lead the way in our vision of delivering ... precision-based medical solutions to physicians and patients," Black said.
