Irvine-based Jet Health Inc. acquired Home Health Investments LLC in Colorado, a provider of home health services from offices in Denver and Grand Junction, Colo. Terms of the transaction were undisclosed.
Jet Health, founded last April, targets opportunities in the home health industry. It’s the company’s second acquisition after acquiring Klarus Home Care in Texas that provides services in Fort Worth and Albuquerque, N.M.
Jet Health has completed two rounds of financing totaling $19 million. Investors include private equity and venture capital firm SV Life Sciences in Boston, private equity firm Health Enterprise Partners LP in New York and select individual investors.
“Our business strategy is to acquire or open home health agencies in the Western United States. We are looking for middle market health markets like Fresno, Colorado Springs [Colo.]… because we think these markets are underserved,” said Jet Health Chief Executive Jim Glynn. “It is our goal to be in seven states, with 20 to 30 locations in the next three to five years.”
Glynn estimated that the home health market is approaching $100 billion split between skilled medical care and nonmedical supportive care. The industry comprises about 12,000 providers and is “highly fragmented and dominated by small mom-and-pops with less than $1 million revenue,” Glynn said.
He added that the largest providers, including Louisville, Ky.-based Kindred Healthcare, Baton Rouge, La.-based Amedisys Inc. and Dallas-based Encompass Home Health & Hospice, make up less than 30% of the industry.
“The home health trend has been happening for the last 10 years and is getting more focus by [the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] in the last five years because of the aging population,” Glynn said.
Homecare can prove to be more cost-effective, according to data compiled by the American Association for Homecare. The national association that represents providers and manufacturers of home medical equipment estimates that the daily cost of home oxygen for Medicare patients is one-thirtieth the cost of a day in a nursing home and less than 1% of the cost of a single day’s hospital stay.
Jet Health operates as a Medicare-certified provider and plans to eventually partner with hospitals as it scales.
30 Under 30 Nod
Timothy Downing, an assistant professor at the University of California-Irvine, was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for 2017 in the science category. Downing’s research focuses on understanding how extracellular signals influence cell behavior and phenotype, or observable traits resulting from interactions between genes and the environment.
“My work focuses on [studying how] environment cues influence cell decision making and gene expression change. We take an epigenetic approach,” Downing said. The approach doesn’t try to directly change RNAs—the nucleic acids that carry genetic information—but looks at how epigenetic modification present in cells works to change or maintain cell phenotype.
Downing is exploring potential applications of his findings in cancer treatment, focusing on breast cancer, as well as in regenerative medicine, specifically spinal cord injuries.
He said the findings are “preliminary but promising,” adding that discoveries will maximize the potential of stem cell technologies and create better biomaterials used in implantation.
Downing received his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and doctorate degrees from the University of California-Berkeley and University of California-San Francisco.
People previously named to the list, which started in 2012, include Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, Snapchat Chief Executive Evan Spiegel, Saturday Night Live comedian Kate McKinnon and hip-hop artist Chance the Rapper.
Plant in Ireland
Irvine-based Aerie Pharmaceuticals Inc. has entered a lease agreement with the Industrial Development Agency of Ireland for a new manufacturing plant for Aerie’s Rhopressa and Roclatan eye drops, which are used to treat patients with glaucoma.
Aerie is a clinical-stage drug company focused on developing treatments for glaucoma and other diseases of the eye. The company has no revenue and is seeking regulatory approval in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan and elsewhere.
It plans to resubmit Rhopressa for Food and Drug Administration approval this year and is conducting two third-phase trials of Roclatan.
The approximately 30,000-square-foot facility, part of Aerie’s “long-term strategy as we prepare for commercialization,” according to Chief Executive Vicente Anido—will be Aerie’s first manufacturing plant. Estimated construction and equipment costs total approximately $25 million.
Aerie has about a $1.3 billion market cap.
Bits & Pieces
Former president Bill Clinton will deliver remarks at the fifth Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit in Dana Point on Feb. 4. The Patient Safety Movement Foundation, founded by Irvine-based Masimo Corp. Chief Executive Joe Kiani, supports the goal of reducing preventable patient deaths in hospitals. … Fullerton-based St. Jude Medical Center received the Beacon Award for Excellence for providing care to critically ill patients and families. St. Jude was one of 24 hospitals in California and one of three in Orange County that received the award.
