Hearst Invests in Moffitt Cancer Center Subsidiary M2Gen

NEW YORK & TAMPA, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Hearst, a market leader in healthcare technology, announced an equity
investment in M2Gen, a health informatics subsidiary of Moffitt Cancer
Center, one of the top comprehensive cancer centers in the United
States. This partnership will help accelerate the discovery of
innovative cancer therapies and improve care for patients nationwide.
The collaboration will provide funding to expand the efforts of the
nation’s first major data sharing network among leading cancer
institutions.

“Hearst is committed to investing in companies and solutions whose
information and analytics can improve and advance healthcare,” said
Hearst President and CEO Steven R. Swartz. “M2Gen is making enormous
strides in advancing cancer research through its pioneering work, and we
are proud to join this mission.”

As one of the top-ranked cancer centers in the nation, Moffitt is
world-renowned for its ability to take groundbreaking research and
translate it to treatments at the patient’s bedside. A pioneer in big
data for healthcare, M2Gen’s innovative Total Cancer Care (TCC) protocol
was developed to enable better research of cancer and patients, tracking
each patient throughout his or her lifetime, and using this information
to drive novel therapies and advancements in care. Cancer therapy
researchers gain access to this clinical and genetic information to help
accelerate new drug discovery and match cancer patients to clinical
trials.

“Moffitt’s culture is rooted in teamwork and collaboration. It is why we
have been so successful at developing new treatments and bringing them
to cancer patients,” said Moffitt President and CEO Alan F. List, MD.
“Adding Hearst to M2Gen’s strengths will magnify the work we are doing
and help define the future of innovation in cancer care worldwide.
Patients will benefit profoundly.”

In 2014, Moffitt, M2Gen and The Ohio State University built upon the
legacy that began in 2006 with the creation of the Oncology Research
Information Exchange Network (ORIEN)—the first-ever national cancer data
sharing network, which currently includes 17 U.S. cancer care
institutions.

“M2Gen’s vast and growing database helps pharmaceutical and
biotechnology companies accelerate discovery of new therapies by helping
match cancer patients to clinical trials based on the unique molecular
features in their disease,” adds M2Gen Executive Chair William Dalton,
Ph.D., MD. “Hearst’s investment will be used to scale the patient
database and accelerate the structuring of the data to facilitate
clinical discoveries.”

“M2Gen’s unique ability to pair a person’s clinical and genetic data for
analysis puts it at the leading edge of genetics-based oncology
research, and we are eager to extend Hearst Health’s reach and make an
important contribution to this new area of science,” said Hearst
Business Media President Richard P. Malloch.

Hearst has offered healthcare information solutions since 1980, and its
Hearst Health division, led by President Gregory Dorn, MD, includes the
market-leading companies First Databank (FDB), Zynx Health, MCG,
Homecare Homebase and MedHOK, acquired in 2016 and also based in Tampa.
Solutions from Hearst Health span the clinical, pharmacy, home and
hospice care, and health insurance markets. Each year in the U.S., care
guidance from the Hearst Health network reaches 84 percent of discharged
patients, 177 million insured individuals, 60 million home health visits
and 3.1 billion dispensed prescriptions.

“Moffitt is aggressive in developing innovative partnerships with
organizations that understand the importance of advancing the science of
cancer,” said Moffitt Institute Board of Directors Chair Timothy J.
Adams. “Advanced research leads to advanced treatments—all to the
benefit of the patients.”

“This partnership with Hearst will allow us to invest in the people,
technology and cancer center partners throughout ORIEN that will improve
quality, safety and efficiency within the healthcare system and increase
patient engagement with the patient as an active participant in their
own journey,” said M2Gen President and CEO Timothy R. Wright.
“Ultimately, this will lead us to being able to provide clinical
decision support tools at the point of care based on the learnings from
the hundreds of thousand patient partners in Total Cancer Care.”

Barclays acted as the Exclusive Financial Advisor to M2Gen on the
transaction.

About Hearst

Hearst is one of the nation’s largest diversified media, information and
services companies with more than 360 businesses. Its major interests
include ownership in cable television networks such as A&E, HISTORY,
Lifetime and ESPN; majority ownership of global ratings agency Fitch
Group; Hearst Health, a group of medical information and services
businesses; 30 television stations such as WCVB-TV in Boston and KCRA-TV
in Sacramento, Calif., which reach a combined 19 percent of U.S.
viewers; newspapers such as the Houston Chronicle, San
Francisco Chronicle and Albany Times Union, nearly
300 magazines around the world including Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s
BAZAAR and Car and Driver; digital services
businesses such as iCrossing and KUBRA; and investments in emerging
digital and video companies such as BuzzFeed, Vice, Complex Networks and
AwesomenessTV. Follow us on Twitter @HearstLive and @Hearst,
and subscribe to Hearstlink.

About Hearst Business Media

Hearst Business Media is a global technology leader delivering
information, insights, analytics, and workflow solutions to meet
worldwide needs in the finance, healthcare and transportation markets.
Its holdings include renowned brands such as Fitch Group, one of the
leading global ratings agencies; the Hearst
Health network of market-leading healthcare companies First
Databank (FDB), Zynx Health, MCG,Homecare
Homebase and MedHOK,
which provide care guidance to patients, hospitals, and insurers; and
Hearst Transportation, which includes CAMP
Systems International, Inc., MOTOR
Information Systems and Black
Book. It also includes two venture funds: Hearst Health Ventures,
which invests in startups offering impactful health IT solutions and
technology-enabled healthcare services and the Financial Venture Fund,
which invests in early-stage financial information, service and
technology companies. Hearst Business Media companies have offices in
more than 30 countries.

About Moffitt Cancer Center

Moffitt is dedicated to one lifesaving mission: to contribute to the
prevention and cure of cancer. The Tampa-based facility is one of only
49 National
Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a
distinction that recognizes Moffitt’s excellence in research, clinical
trials, prevention and cancer control. Moffitt is a Top 10 cancer
hospital and has been nationally ranked by U.S.
News & World Report since 1999. Moffitt’s expert nursing
staff is recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center with
Magnet® status, its highest distinction. With more than 5,700 team
members, Moffitt has an economic impact in the state of $2.1 billion.
For more information, call 1-888-MOFFITT (1-888-663-3488), visit MOFFITT.org,
and follow the momentum on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

About M2Gen

M2Gen® is a health informatics solutions company focused on accelerating
the discovery and development of personalized medicines. M2Gen partners
with the nation’s leading cancer centers through ORIEN to create a
large, cancer-focused data warehouse linking clinical and molecular
data. Using this information, M2Gen helps biopharmaceutical companies
address the greatest challenges in oncology drug development. For more
information, visit www.M2Gen.com.

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