STAT January 25, 2022
IBM sells Watson Health data on 270 million Americans
The Watson Health era is over at IBM. The company sold the core data and analytics assets of its struggling health division to Francisco Partners, a San Francisco-based private equity firm with an active portfolio of health technology investments. The deal ends a dark chapter for IBM, which failed to live up to its promises to use AI to revolutionize drug discovery, cancer care, and hospital operations. It also instantly makes Francisco Partners a significant player in a growing national market for buying and selling sensitive patient data. The firm will soon own the national MarketScan insurance claims database, which includes medical and drug data on more than 270 million Americans,...