Investment in Virtual Cancer Care: Onco.com launches India’s first Virtual Cancer Hospital

Announcing our seed investment in Onco.com, an online platform focused on providing personalized, unbiased, expert treatment planning and care
management to cancer patients through their network of oncologists in the US and India.

Each year, lakhs of Indians are devastated by the diagnosis of cancer. On average, 1300 Indians succumb to cancer every day, with new cancer cases estimated to grow by 25% by 2020 in India (Reference: Indian Council of Medical Research). Cancer has become one of the major causes of death in the country, with women being increasingly diagnosed with the disease. Emerging markets, such as India, countries in the African continent, the Middle East and South Asia account for over 13 million Cancer patients
(roughly 60% of all cancer patients in the world, while accounting for 70% worldwide cancer deaths).

Patients in non-metros and small cities of the middle-income countries are inaccessible to right point of care, and patients from metros face a severe lack of quality treatment advice at a time when they need it the most. This happens due to a serious inadequacy of oncologists (about 2000 oncologists for 11 Mn cancer patients in India), who can provide the appropriate care to patients in these regions.

As part of being integrated in the healthcare ecosystem, we regularly hear of the struggles and challenges faced by cancer patients, their families and caregivers. Cancer diagnosis in a patient often triggers the need to urgently sift through as much information as possible, and have a sense of control, that, often, cancer takes away from the patient. Getting expert advice from the right set of doctors and choosing a specialized therapy protocol can bring out the best outcome for the patient.

Onco.com’s mission is to create a borderless platform by leveraging their tumor board to provide expert opinions, and empower the patients with consultation, care management and services within 24 hours. With a patient-centric business model, Onco.com is bridging the gap in care and service provision for cancer patient-treatment in India and world-wide. The quick turnaround has been made possible by predictive analytics, and clinical informatics systems along with a team of reputed and specialized oncologists in the tumor board. Several types of cancers are curable or can be managed without compromising quality of life, if the cancer is diagnosed early, along with the provision of right set of treatment.

It was evident to us, from the beginning of our journey in 2017, with our founders, Rashie and Dr. Amit, that their philosophy in building a specialized, evidence-based, patient-centric virtual cancer care for the tens of millions and rapidly growing cancer patients in the emerging markets, would make for a revolutionary ally with the current cancer care system.

We believe that the current process from diagnosis through treatment is broken and want to support in building out a community that provides unbiased consults, unrestricted access, education on the cutting-edge therapies, and above all providing ease and convenience to the patients.

“We believe that the future of cancer care is online. Cancer being a complex condition, with its treatment, essentially multidisciplinary, and as the number of sub-specializations for diverse types of cancers keep increasing, it is important for patients to have a one- stop platform that can identify the right experts for their unique cancer diagnosis and guide them with the best treatment planning from those doctors. In Cancer, getting the right treatment is as important as getting treatment itself.”

says Dr Amit Jotwani(Co-founder, Head of Medical Services, Onco.com) Rashie Jain (CEO, Onco.com) maintains that the company’s primary goal is to “become trusted partners for every cancer patient in the world.”

Onco.com provides cancer treatment advice as per the latest international scientific guidelines and protocols, to patients around the world. The platform works with a network of world-class oncologists to provide accurate and unbiased consultations at every stage of the disease. The patient-centric model helps patients in planning their treatment online and connects them with specialized delivery centers such as diagnostic labs, hospitals and quality service providers nearby, to get treatment delivery offline.

This ensures that every patient gets treatment that is both supervised by a specialist and delivered at a geography/hospital of their own choosing.
At Accel, we feel fortunate to be part of a transformative and impactful oncology ecosystem, and in building out companies such as Onco.com.

By Barath Shankar Subramanian & Radhika Ananth