US operator Verizon is to form a strategic relationship with Nantworks, a US technology and healthcare company backed by billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong. The first initiative between the two companies will be a new service to give doctors the most up-to-date information for treating cancer. Nantworks has built a reputation as an aggressive investor in mobile health start-ups. The agreement with Verizon is not its first with a mobile operator.  Last year the company signed a MoU to work with Vodafone, the 45 percent shareholder in Verizon Wireless. The majority stake is held by Verizon.

Verizon recently combined its separate health interests in fixed and mobile to form a single integrated organisation that will target the healthcare market. The new relationship with Nantworks was announced by Verizon chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam during a keynote to the World Health Care Congress.  The aim is to combine the set of healthcare technologies in which Nantworks has invested with the US operator’s mobility, cloud and IT offerings.

McAdam also said the US healthcare market currently “operates in silos without the ability to share patient and clinical data at the even the most basic levels”.  The two partners’ first initiative is an attempt to breakdown this type of silo. They will create an integrated information infrastructure called the Cancer Knowledge Action Network whose aim is to improve cancer treatment by improving access for doctors to treatment data.

Healthcare is a strategic market for Verizon. Its health unit is called Verizon Connected Healthcare Solutions. Among its services, the unit enables healthcare professionals to access and exchange sensitive patient data. It also developed a medical data exchange and a cloud-based fraud detection solution.  Verizon also has link-ups with Duke University and with investor Health Evolution Partners.

Nantworks has invested significant sums in building up a portfolio of healthcare firms and technologies. Owner Soon-Shiong has plenty of investment with which to back the firm. He made billions from selling two pharmaceutical firms he founded: American Pharmaceutical Partners in 2008 and Abraxis BioScience in 2010