Ilan Danieli, CEO of Precipio Diagnostics, shakes his head as he speaks of an inconvenient truth: Up to one in five blood-related cancer diagnoses are incorrect.His company puts the economic cost of these errors and the resulting off-target treatment at $750 billion. But the human cost is beyond calculation.He points the finger at the existing […]
Get Instant Access to This Article
Subscribe to Hartford Business Journal and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.
- Critical Hartford and Connecticut business news updated daily.
- Immediate access to all subscriber-only content on our website.
- Bi-weekly print or digital editions of our award-winning publication.
- Special bonus issues like the Hartford Book of Lists.
- Exclusive ticket prize draws for our in-person events.
Click here to purchase a paywall bypass link for this article.
Ilan Danieli, CEO of Precipio Diagnostics, shakes his head as he speaks of an inconvenient truth: Up to one in five blood-related cancer diagnoses are incorrect.
His company puts the economic cost of these errors and the resulting off-target treatment at $750 billion. But the human cost is beyond calculation.
He points the finger at the existing methodology that stresses cost efficiency over accuracy and draws an analogy to an auto repair shop. A motorist who complains of a noisy muffler sets in motion a more limited diagnostic service than a motorist who simply says something is wrong.
Today, when a doctor orders a biopsy, he or she tells the lab what form of cancer is suspected. The lab pathologist then looks for that cancer and returns a report.
There’s a better way, Danieli says. If a doctor sends the biopsy to Precipio, the initial process involves a deeper dive into the patient’s medical history and previous tests, essentially a review of the indicators that inform the doctor’s basis for suspecting a particular form of cancer.
The sample is then reviewed for a wider range of possible diagnoses and the results are reviewed by cancer-specific experts at academic institutions. The result is never going to be 100% accurate but Precipio says it expects to top 95% accuracy.
There are a lot of moving pieces here — including several proprietary Precipio products — but improvement starts with the people, Danieli says, pointing to the network of more than 100 subject experts at respected universities. There is a staff of 35 working in the New Haven headquarters and clinical lab. A separate team of 10 does product research and development in Omaha; 15 others work remotely.
On the business side, Precipio is facing a steep uphill climb in a field dominated by a few large labs. Danieli points to the firm’s Smart Path program — a free second opinion — as one approach to winning over patients, doctors and insurers.
While diagnostics is where Precipio is building a reputation, its future as a business is being built on products — from the HemeScreen Physician Office Lab program, an anemia panel test and reagents — sold on a business-to-business basis to doctors and labs.
Precipio is publicly traded with a market capitalization of about $70 million. In the second quarter, it posted $2.3 million in revenue, a 65% gain year-over-year and up 29% from the first quarter.
In a June statement announcing the termination of an equity line of credit arrangement with Lincoln Park Capital, Danieli said: “We are now in a position where we have significantly extended our runway, and we anticipate that we will have the ability and the resources to rapidly grow the company without further capital raises to fund ongoing operations in the next 24 months.”
One area where Danieli acknowledges Precipio needs to improve is in its engagement with New Haven’s bioscience ecosystem. He sees innovative approaches all around that could complement Precipio’s business.
And the company may soon be in acquisition mode.
