PatientsLikeMe.com allows users to record and share experiences with their own conditions and treatments. They provide a ‘doctor visit sheet’ that summaries all a user’s activity on the site. The unique point to this startup is the capacity to do very large targeted surveys. They sell custom research based on their users, they can answer a pharmaceutical’s questions about the sort of packaging preferred by disease suffers or perform double blind outcomes trials. Medical trials make up a major part of the expenses of major pharmaceuticals, if PatientsLikeMe can attract a large-enough community of different disease communities they could skim some of the budget set aside for this.
PatientsLikeMe went live with a few limited communities in 2005 and now has 111,206 users, about 80% across the US. They have access to an engaged and very high-value demographic. This could make them an extremely interesting acquisition target for a pharmaceutical company.
We are currently looking at the health sector. Do you know any exciting health and fitness startups? Share your thoughts with us in the comments box, drop us a line or tweet us!