“Data hasn’t proven yet that signals lead to distinctive change in outcomes,” Hyde said. He gave the example of patients discussing side effects, which would only affect a drugmaker’s stock if it escalated its way to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and led to restrictions in a drug’s use.
Treato’s main line of business remains big pharma. Hadari says nine major drugmakers have signed on. He declined to name them, saying he has signed confidentiality contracts. Treato is still working out pricing for a range of services, Hadari said.
One of the drugmakers, which began using Treato in January, aims to understand patients’ concerns as they move from diagnosis to treatment, according to the company’s director of analytics, who asked not to be identified for competitive reasons.
The company is considering whether to update its patient education materials after determining that people’s questions and focus evolve over time, the director said in a telephone interview. Treato’s appeal is that it helps track how people use medications, and might be used to answer questions such as why patients switch from one drug to another, the director said.
For all his doubts, Funtleyder says some form of data mining is the way forward for investors.
“That’s where I see the world going as far as investing is concerned,” he said. Investors will step beyond the “traditional factors we’d used on Wall Street before.”