Oncology Ventures: Investment in FidoCure + Healthcare Comedy
Investing in data start-ups to improve cancer care and research
Thesis for Oncology Ventures’ Investment in FidoCure
Current state of comparative canine oncology
Cancer is the leading cause of death in dogs, with 6 million cancer cases annually in the U.S. (for reference, 2 million humans per year get cancer). Since 2003, the National Cancer Institute has been using information from canine cancer to help guide studies of human cancer and vice versa—a field known as comparative oncology.
While most cancer research is conducted on genetically modified mice, dogs offer a more accurate, biologically similar model for human cancer treatments. Canine cancer is naturally occurring, unlike the induced cancers in mouse models, providing a more accurate view of how tumors grow and respond to treatment.
Novel targeted therapies are constantly under development to improve cancer care in humans, but this process is often expensive, prolonged and has a high failure rate (89% of novel drugs in clinical trials fail to get to market).
Clinico-genomic data from canine tumors can help identify therapeutic response signals, which can then inform and guide drug development for humans. This is particularly valuable for rare human cancers, such as bone cancer, that have a high prevalence in dogs.
Effective implementation of canine comparative oncology can reduce the costs and risk of bringing oncology clinical trials to market, advancing both human and canine cancer care.
Oncology Ventures is excited to invest in FidoCure to improve cancer care on both sides of the leash
FidoCure has built the largest canine cancer dataset - creating a usable, comparative oncology platform to help cancer researchers predict therapeutic effectiveness. This offers insights into cancer’s natural progression in dogs, which again, outweighs data from mice trials, while increasing dog survival by up to 3x.
The Company has built a precision medicine engine where they 1) analyze dog tumor DNA using their diagnostic platform, 2) recommend the most effective drugs and facilitate treatment through pharmacy partnerships and human targeted therapies, and 3) collect and analyze that real-world data to build a comprehensive, evolving resource to improve future treatment strategies for dogs and humans.
FidoCure employs a B2B go-to-market strategy, partnering with 1,350 (and counting) vet clinics. While there are over 126,000 practicing vets in the U.S., there are fewer than 500 certified vet oncologists. FidoCure helps vet general practitioners effectively treat cancer, and helps vet oncologists practice at the top of their license, leading the charge on precision medicine.
Since there is no dog HIPAA, it means we know that all of Fluffy’s information is for that dog, Fluffy. Because that data is not anonymized, the veracity of that data is incredibly high. Vets document particularly well and pet parents care deeply, meaning FidoCure can collect outcomes data in a high quality and usable manner.
Here is where it gets quite interesting. FidoCure is not just building a robust dataset, it’s developing an actionable platform that enhances both human and veterinary oncology. FidoCure can leverage FDA engagement to position canine models as trial-ready for human drug development.
The Company has already proven this ability by partnering with Massachusetts General Hospital and Eisai (pharma company) to help bring a drug to Phase 2. Eisai is working on a drug to treat a rare sarcoma in humans, where there is no applicable mouse model, but we see 600k cases per year in dogs - naturally they saw value in FidoCure’s platform.
We are excited to partner with Christina Lopes and the FidoCure team, and co-invest with a16z Bio, Polaris and Lerer Hippeau, as they improve cancer care.
Comedy!
Fortunately, I have health insurance and my bills are paid. But, that hasn't stopped hospital debt collectors from calling me 12 times a week. I know no one talks about it, but… it feels like our healthcare system is broken.
They always kick off the call by saying “Hi Ben, we're hospital debt collectors. How are you?”
I'm so glad you called. You're not going to believe this, but I was actually just about to give you a ring.
“Let's start by asking you a few security identification questions to make sure it's you.”
You called me. Who are you? You answer the security questions. And you’re calling to ask me for money… that I don’t owe you. Why would I answer those questions correctly?
“Question1 - who was your childhood crush?”
Steve Buscemi. Can I hang up now?
I feel the same way when Amazon asks me to do their 2-factor authentication. Jeff Bezos knows my address, my credit card information and what type of toothpaste I use. They know it’s me just trying to buy more paper towels.
If helpful, I found a pretty elegant way to bypass that security. What you do is you pause Netflix, and yell into the empty room “Alexa order me more paper towels”. This bit has gotten pretty expensive to practice out loud at home.
Asks
Will you be at the Community Oncology Alliance Conference in Orlando?
Is there one oncology executive in your network we should get to know?
Congratulations on FidoCure. I suggest getting to know Kate Sears at Medical.watch.