There are more than 13 million people living with cancer in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute, but researchers and doctors hoping to develop better treatments can only learn from a tiny percentage of them, according to Nat Turner.据美国国家癌症研究所（National Cancer Institute）称之为，全美癌症患者共计1300多万人。但据奈特o特纳说道，那些期望能研发出有更佳化疗方案的研究人员和医生却不能针对其中较小一部分人积极开展研究。

Along with Zach Weinberg, Turner is a co-founder ofFlatiron Health, a two-year-old healthcare technology company based in New York and best known for recently raising $130 million in an investment round led by Google Ventures GOOG -1.34% . Turner believes that his company’s “cloud-based data platform” for oncology can help gather data on a disease that affects 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women. Despite more than a million cancer diagnoses in the U.S. each year, the field lacks sufficient data to improve treatment of it, he said.特纳和扎克o维恩伯格都是Flatiron Health公司的牵头创始人。这家医疗保健技术公司坐落于纽约，正式成立刚两年。最近它刚刚获得谷歌风投（Google Ventures）领衔投资的1.3亿美元，名噪一时。

特纳坚信，他们公司打造出的肿瘤学“云数据平台”可以协助搜集那些影响一半男性及三分之一女性的癌症涉及数据。他说道，尽管美国每年发病的癌症有上百万事例，但却仍然缺少充足的涉及数据去改良癌症化疗方案。

“In America, most of the learning that occurs in healthcare is in clinical trials,” Turner said. Yet a full 96 percent of patients do not participate. “It’s a huge problem: If 100 patients walk in the door, we’re only learning from four of them.”他说道：“在美国，绝大多数癌症化疗经验都来自于临床试验。”但是高达96%的病人并不参与这类试验。

“这是个大问题，也就是说，100个入医院的病人中只有4个人可以可供我们深入研究。”Information is certainly collected on the other 96%—but it is typically trapped in electronic medical records (EMR) systems and doctors’ notes, Turner said. “Our vision is to aggregate the data on that 96 percent, organize it, and make it usable by physicians, patients, and any of the stakeholders here,” he said. “Ultimately, we want to improve cancer care.”另外96%的病人信息只不过也有人搜集——但特纳称之为，它们往往溶解在电子病历（EMR）系统和医生笔记里。

“我们的目标就是搜集这96%的病人的数据，重新整理，让它们可以为医生、病人和其他利益相关者所用。说到底，我们是期望能提升癌症的化疗水平。”‘Their concern is longevity’“谷歌想的就是长生不老”Flatiron’s OncologyCloud platform includes an analytics section, an EMR piece that comes courtesy of the company’s recent acquisition of Altos Solutions, a patient portal, and a billing portion. Together, the technologies provide what the company calls the world’s largest single source of structured real-world oncology data and intelligence. By enabling that data to be shared in HIPAA-compliant ways, Flatiron hopes it will accelerate personalized medicine and research.Flatiron公司的肿瘤学云平台所含一个分析模块，一个电子病历模块，这两者是这家公司近期并购电子病历系统公司Altos Solutions的成果。

此外，它还有一个病人入口和计费系统。这些板块和技术特一起就能获取这家公司所称的全球仅次于的结构化现实肿瘤学数据和信息的单一来源。

Flatiron期望，通过让这些数据以合乎身体健康保险便捷及责任法案（HIPAA）的方式共享传播，能增进个体化的用药和研究。The technology is now being used by between 1,500 and 2,000 clinicians and administrators at more than 200 cancer centers, Turner said.特纳回应，目前有200多家癌症中心的1,500到2,000位临床医生和管理人员早已在用于这一技术。With $138 million raised so far, the company clearly has clearly captured investors’ attention. Flatiron’s $130 million Series B is the fourth-largest round in which Google Ventures has participated and is its largest medical software deal to date. (The firm also participated in Flatiron’s Series A round.)这家公司目前为止早已筹得1.38亿美元，似乎早就沦为投资者欢迎的对象。

它的1.3亿美元B轮融资是谷歌风投第四大参投项目，也是其迄今为止规模仅次于的医药软件投资（谷歌风投也参投了Flatiron的A轮融资。）Google’s interest in a healthcare company is not that surprising. Last fall, it announced Calico, an effort focused on health and well-being, and its venture arm has investments in Foundation Medicine andDNAnexus. (Google Ventures did not respond to a request for comment.)谷歌公司对医疗保健公司的投资兴趣几乎在人们意料之中。这家公司去年秋天宣告正式成立Calico公司，致力于扩展身体健康领域的研究；同时，它的风投部门也已投资了Foundation Medicine和DNAnexus（回应谷歌风投没对此置评的拒绝）。

“Google’s concern is longevity,” said Skip Snow, a senior analyst for healthcare with Forrester Research. “They believe the relationship they want to have with healthcare is a longevity play—how do we help people live longer, healthier lives?”弗雷斯特研究公司（Forrester Research）资深分析师斯基普o斯诺说道：“谷歌想的是长生不老。他们深信自己插手医疗保健领域就是为了执着长寿——怎么协助人们真是更加持久、更加身体健康？”‘How are you possibly going to keep up?’“怎么有可能与时俱进？”“We have worked with Nat and Zach before, having funded their last company Invite Media, and given their track record, we wanted to be involved in their next venture,” said Josh Kopelman, a partner withFirst Round Capital, which also participated in both of Flatiron Health’s funding rounds.首轮资本公司（First Round Capital）合伙人乔什o科普曼说道：“我们以前就和奈特及扎克合作过，也投资了他们上一个公司Invite Media。

正是考虑到他们的一贯展现出，我们要求投资他们现在的企业。”它也参予了Flatiron Health的两轮融资。“The fact that they’re going after solving a problem that will have major impact in cancer care is hugely important and made it even more compelling for us to be involved,” Kopelman added. “It’s pretty rare to have a team like the one they’re building go after this kind of idea.”科普曼补足说道：“他们致力要解决问题的问题将对癌症化疗产生根本性影响，这一点十分最重要，也让我们产生了更加反感的投资兴趣。

他们目前重新组建一起攻下这个难题的团队十分鲜有。”There is a “seismic shift” happening toward evidence-based medicine, Snow said. “The number of possibilities for what a doctor should do about a health problem is getting unmanageable, he said, “especially in cancer, which is very complex.”斯诺称之为，循证医学目前于是以再次发生着翻天覆地的变化。他说道：“一个医生现在针对某个身体健康问题所能采行的化疗方案过于多了，数量之大显得无法管理，特别是在是癌症，因为这个领域十分复杂。”Further complicating the process is the fact that so many cancer drugs in the pipeline are biomarked, Snow added, meaning that they are tailored to physiologically impact only certain groups of people, rather than the entire population.斯诺还称之为，使化疗日趋简单的问题是，目前渠道在售的很多癌症化疗药物都做到过生物标记。

这就意味著，它们都是度身自定义，只对特定人群、而不是所有人有效地。“If you’re an oncologist practicing in a community hospital in Nebraska, how are you possibly going to keep up with all that?” Snow said.斯诺说道：“如果你只是个内布拉斯加州社区医院的肿瘤医生，怎么有可能跟得上这些发展呢？”On the other hand, Flatiron’s “96 percent” statistic is “very deceiving,” Snow said. Most clinical trials won’t accept patients in the early stages of cancer, and even if they do, they typically are looking for a relatively uncommon form of the disease, he said.而另一方面，斯诺回应，Flatiron公司所谓的“96%”数据也“很唬人”。因为绝大多数临床试验都会拒绝接受早期癌症病人，就算拒绝接受，一般也是去找那些不过于少见的癌症。

“Not every cancer victim is a candidate for clinical trials,” Snow said. “The fact that four percent participate is not a very meaningful statistic.”斯诺说道：“不是每位癌症患者都合适参与临床试验。所谓的4%参与率不是个很有意义的统计数据。”Compounding the problem: Cancer victims typically don’t know which trials they’re eligible to be in, Snow said. “Even a doctor at Memorial Sloan Kettering may not know what’s going on at Stanford,” he said.使问题日趋简单的是：癌症患者一般并不知道自己合适参与哪些临床试验，斯诺称之为。

“就算是斯隆o凯特灵纪念中心（Memorial Sloan Kettering，纽约知名癌症化疗中心——学术著作）的医生有可能也不告诉斯坦福大学（Stanford）的研究进展。”Flatiron’s technology alerts physicians when their patients are eligible for a particular trial, Turner said.而特纳称之为，Flatiron的技术可以在病人合适参与特定试验时通报主治医师。

‘The Lexis-Nexis of cancer’“癌症领域的超级数据库”Large cancer institutes such as Sloan Kettering and Mt. Sinai’s Icahn Institute are in many ways trying to do the same thing as Flatiron with their own sets of data. Those institutions are considered to have more expertise to deal with the data; Flatiron’s fundamental position is that the use of only one institution’s data, however large, is insufficient to fully address the problem.像斯隆o凯特魂魄和西奈山伊坎研究院（Mt. Sinai’s Icahn Institute）这样的大型癌症研究机构也在很多方面想要利用自己的数据累积积极开展和Flatiron一样的业务。人们指出这类机构有更加多懂数据处理的专家，而Flatiron的主要问题是它不能用一个机构的数据。不管这个数据量有多大，都足以解决问题。

It’s the same issue at hand with exploiting electronic medical records overall, said Alan Louie, research director with IDC’s Health Insights group.IDC公司Health Insights集团的研究总监阿兰o路易称之为，要了解研究所有电子病历也不存在这个问题。“The fact that you have the data all in one place is one thing, but whether you can make it usable effectively is another,” Louie said. “You have to really combine the bioinformatics with a knowledge of cancer and the manifestation of the disease.”路易称之为：“把所有数据集中于到一起是一其实，能否有效地利用它们毕竟另外一其实。必需能把生物信息学和对癌症及症状的了解理解融合一起才讫。

”The large cancer institutes may have more limited data sets, given that they don’t aggregate data from a variety of sources the way Flatiron does, “but I’d argue the researchers there may be more aware of the subtleties of genomics and probably can analyze the data more effectively,” he said.大型癌症研究机构有可能数据量比较受限，因为它们不了像Flatiron那样从多种渠道搜集数据，他说道：“但我指出这些机构的研究人员有可能更加懂深奥的基因组学，也有可能更加有效地分析数据。”There are other EMR systems that Flatiron competes with, Turner says, such as Epic. But for analytics, “I honestly haven’t seen too many,” he said. “Maybe Microsoft Excel.”特纳称之为，在电子病历系统上Flatiron公司也是有输掉的，如Epic。

但就这些病历的分析来说，他回应：“我还真为没有看见多少输掉，或许微软公司（Microsoft）的Excel算数一个。”IBM is also a player, but “they’re very geared toward the top one percent and focused on decision support,” Turner said. The American Society of Clinical Oncology’s CancerLinQ is another.IBM公司某种程度也是输掉之一，但“它们主要致力于为1%的客户服务，并专攻决策反对，”特纳称之为。而美国临床肿瘤协会（American Society of Clinical Oncology）的CancerLinQ算数另一个。

Forrester’s Snow saw it differently. “Flatiron is more like an information service provider and less like a Sloan Kettering or Icahn,” he said. “The Sloan Ketterings and Icahns are saying, ‘We are the centers of excellence, the creators of the protocols and the content, and we will sell you the license to have access to our model of excellence.’ “不过斯诺的观点有所不同。他说道：“Flatiron更加看起来个信息服务提供商，而不像斯隆o凯特魂魄和伊坎这类专业研究机构。而斯隆o凯特魂魄和伊坎不会说道‘我们是专业卓越的中心，行业标准的起草者，我们为您获取许可，使您也能用上我们的卓越模式。’”Flatiron, on the other hand, “wants to be the Lexis-Nexis of cancer,” Snow said. “Aggregate the data, store it, and license it to the community with tools so you can ask the questions you need to ask.”而另一方面，斯诺回应，Flatiron的目标是“在癌症研究领域沦为像Lexis-Nexis（美国顶级商业与法律数据库——学术著作）一样的顶级数据库。

它主要业务就是搜集数据、存储数据，再行将数据和涉及工具许可给涉及研究机构，使其能咨询涉及问题。”Which means the company is better suited to compete with Bloomberg, Lexis-Nexis (owned by Reed Elsevier), IMS Health, and Thompson-Reuters rather than organizations trusted on the subject on cancer like Sloan Kettering.这意味著这家公司更加核实的竞争对手是彭博社（Bloomberg）、Lexis-Nexis【隶属于里德爱思唯尔集团（Reed Elsevier）】，IMS Health和汤普森路透（Thompson-Reuters），而不是斯隆o凯特魂魄这类专攻癌症研究的机构。

“I think they absolutely can succeed against those who sell information as a service,” Snow said. “That’s the landscape they can prevail in, and that’s the landscape where the incumbents are moving slowly, especially in health.”斯诺称之为：“我想要该公司认同能比不上那些信息销售服务商。这将是他们能纵横驰骋的领域，而目前这个领域的巨头进展较慢，特别是在是在医疗身体健康领域。”“Flatiron’s trick is they’re little, nimble, and smart,” he said, “and with $100 million, they can probably recruit good talent.” Which is exactly what Turner said he plans to do.他说道：“Flatiron的优势在于他们规模并不大，聪慧灵活性。

有了这一个亿，他们有可能还能招来更加出众的人才。”而这正是特纳的计划。

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