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Stanford GSB News

 

The Internet May Transform
Health Care Processes

May 10, 2000

STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS - E-commerce and genomics will radically transform the stodgy pharmaceutical and health-care industries, according to industry leaders at the Stanford Business School's first Health Care and Technology conference May 6.

In the conference's opening keynote address, Roy Whitfield, GSB '79, chief executive officer of Incyte Genomics Inc., a genomics information company in Palo Alto, drew strong parallels between the chip industry and the future of biotechnology and between microprocessors and the human genetic code. "The human chromosome is a storage device," Whitfield said. "The genetic code is an algorithm. The human body is an information-processing system."

The Human Genome Project, which is expected to complete its first stage this year, will serve as a basic manual to human genetics, Whitfield said. This, in turn, makes it easier to zero in on the genes involved in a specific condition and easier to create drugs that target the condition. What took years in a laboratory will take mere hours on a computer.

By transforming the current lengthy and expensive drug development process, Whitfield said, knowledge of the human genome will transform the pharmaceutical industry from a group of vertically integrated, multinational corporations to a more horizontal industrial model with different companies handling the various stages of drug development and marketing, including companies, such as Incyte, that create genetic databases and clone archives-what Whitfield calls "eGenomics."

"eGenomics is real and is going to transform our business," Whitfield said. With the information available from companies such as Incyte, Whitfield predicted that by 2010 the molecular basis for most human diseases would be known.

Transformation was also the theme of the conference's closing speaker, Geoffrey Rutledge, vice president of business development and clinical informatics at Atlanta-based Healtheon/WebMD Corp. who discussed the effects the Internet would have on the health-care industry.

The WebMD Web site is meant to serve as a focal point for consumers, healthcare practitioners, medical institutions, pharmacies and insurance companies, Rutledge said. By bringing together all segments of the health-care process, he said, it is possible to reduce red tape and create a more efficient exchange of information. Consumers get quick access to medical information, while doctors can access medical records and submit insurance forms online.

While this centralization of information offers great convenience, Rutledge acknowledged that privacy issues were a concern with insurance companies having access to the site and, potentially, patient records.

"It's a huge issue," Rutledge said and added that not only did insurance companies not have access to data on patients, but that any medical information entered by consumer users was not part of the formal medical record.

"We keep patient records separate in an effort to create a neutral, trusted base," Rutledge said. For similar, reasons maintaining a separation between sponsorships and the site's editorial content was also a critical concern.

In addition to Whitfield and Rutledge, the conference, presented by the MBA Health Care & Biotech Club at the Business School, featured morning and afternoon panels in the areas of biotechnology/genomics, eHealth and medical devices.

by Margaret Young