Havas Health links up with a government contractor for predictive analytics

An unusual pairing of capabilities has been announced by Havas Health, part of the global communications agency Havas Group, and Vencore, a US-based IT vendor. The joint venture, HVH Patient Precision Analytics, is targeting the problem of identifying undiagnosed rare-disease patients in the near term, but both companies have expertise in additional areas of healthcare, such as healthcare communications tailored to the needs of specific prescribers. The partnering between the two firms had been announced earlier; now it has been formalized with the choice of a CEO, Steve Costalas from Vencore, and Jeff Ceitlin from Havas Health as chief commercial officer.

Vencore has decades of experience in managing both the systems integration of high-volume data services, and advanced analytics (including machine learning and other techniques). Recent projects include various types of signal intelligence for the military; the company has also done work for the Dept. of Homeland Security. It has already demonstrated its ability to identify undiagnosed patients of rare diseases, which potentially can cut years off the time it usually takes for such patients to be properly diagnosed.

Ceitlin tells Pharmaceutical Commerce that while there are a growing number of firms providing analytics for healthcare applications, few have the expertise that Vencore has demonstrated in largescale data processing and analysis. These expertise will be blended with another recently organized unit within Havas Health, called xigxag, to provide consulting services to pharma marketers. Patient recruitment for clinical trials is another application that the j.v. will be pursuing.