"Between Dr. Krasner's years with Congress and my time with GLG, we have a high-level relationship with many leading physicians here and abroad," Neptune says. "We can gain access to them in a way that someone without a personal connection cannot do."
The expert panels created by ExpertConsensus provide clients with a roadmap for future possible treatments and the attending physician is given a "blueprint" to act on. Clinical trials are included as well as experimental drugs.
While ExpertConsensus cannot move its clients ahead of anyone to get into clinical trials, it does make sure its clients have all the information needed to request a place in a trial, which can dramatically reduce the time for admittance, Neptune says. Clinical trials and drug development can take up to 20 years and most patients do not have the luxury of waiting that long, he adds.
"Many [clients] have a range of questions regarding their situation that we get answered by the panel," Neptune says. "Our reports are thorough and the treating physician will go over this report with the client in detail."
Krasner believes ExpertConsensus helps doctors as much as it helps the wealthy patients who can afford its services because it facilitates the interaction between doctors and researchers, thereby advancing medical knowledge.
A recent case involved a business executive with advanced lung cancer.
"ExpertConsensus worked with the client's treating physician to assemble and curate the client's medical record and then engaged top lung cancer experts from several institutions," including MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University in Atlanta, and Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, says Neptune.
"The experts recommended a customized chemotherapy plan based on the client's history and recommended molecular profiling of the client's tumor to identify the specific 'tumor markers' that would allow the doctors to better target the client's cancerous cells," he says. "The client has had a number of follow-up studies since the expert panel was convened earlier this year, which show no progression of his disease."
Neptune and Forman would like to see their service expanded to other areas, such as organ transplants.
"There has got to be a better way-a better way to get information to patients and provide them with insight regarding diagnoses and therapies that are up to date and relevant to their personal situation," Forman says.