The logistics involved in combating a serious disease may not seem like the worst thing in such a situation. When you talk to patients, however, many of them mention the bureaucracy as one of the factors detracting from their quality of life. Patients have to obtain information from organizations whose activity they do not understand, read documents formulated in medical language that is not always clear, and stand up for their rights against entities that do not always want to recognize those rights. The patients must do all these things under time pressure, while every decision they make appears critical.

Entrepreneur and CEO Eliran Malki founded the BelongTail company in order to streamline the process and make it easier for patients. He says, "There are people who 'defeat' cancer - in other words, live longer than their life expectancy, sometimes by making several good decisions in a row. We want the patients in our system to beat the statistics and live longer and better lives. The name Belong was chosen because in statistics, most people are in the center of the curve, but there is a long tail that is far from the average. We want our patients to be in the long tail."

The personalized app approaches managing cancer as if it were a project. The company reports that it has thousands of users in Israel and the US, and that it is also connected to hospitals, NGOs, and organizations.

The app has five elements. The first is a treatment program management screen with a meeting and treatment tracker, a definition of goals, obtaining medical information, and obtaining information about the average for other patients: their experiences with the corresponding treatment stage and which treatments and interventions (or legal/insurance measures) worked well for them. The second element is a medical community that provides a response to patients, including oncologists, radiologists, nurses, researchers, and other professionals.

The third element is a social community of patients and their families, including forums adapted to the state of each user. The fourth element is a digital medical record in which the patient can collect all his medical information and share it with whoever wants to see it. The fifth element makes it possible to locate clinical researchers relevant to the patient's individual situation.

The company plans to offer users an app for communicating with the medical team at the hospital where they are being treated, so that the doctors or the rest of the team can be more available to the patient than they are now, without disrupting their regular work.

Malki is a technological management specialist. In recent years, he managed companies, including MoreVRP, acquired by EMC for a sum believed to amount to tens of millions of dollars; Veracity, acquired by E&M for an undisclosed amount; and Commit, acquired by Kav Manche. Malki's grandfather and aunt died of cancer, and he has personally experienced the harassing bureaucratic procedures.

The company has raised $2 million to date from angel investors. Its founders include CTO Irad Deutsch and CFO and COO Ohad Rubin.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 21, 2016

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