$20 million investment to drive growth for Atlantis Healthcare

Atlantis, which currently manages some 45 patient programmes in nine countries, and has 120 staff in operations across New Zealand, Australia, UK and Europe has been rapidly building a reputation as a market leader in developing and managing programmes to ensure patients adhere to their prescribed course of treatment.

Atlantis CEO Michael Whittaker says the importance of adherence continues to grow as chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease assume an ever larger proportion of the overall healthcare burden.

Whittaker said that the partnership with White Cloud Capital will allow Atlantis to grow internationally, particularly in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, broaden its service offering, and expand its research and development capabilities internationally.

The deal, announced today, will see White Cloud Capital invest $20 million for a stake in Atlantis.

Traditionally, Atlantis’s customers have been major pharmaceutical companies. However, while those companies remain an essential part of Atlantis’s business, Whittaker says Atlantis is increasingly serving healthcare providers, government agencies, insurance companies, and others wanting to ensure treatment regimes produce optimal health outcomes while remaining cost-effective.

For example, Whittaker says, Atlantis is presently in preliminary talks with a Middle East government on initiatives to combat that country’s increasing incidence of diabetes, and has successfully run programmes for government agencies at home and abroad.

Atlantis’ unique combination of the latest thinking in health psychology and its expertise in marketing and communication strategies gives the company a significant competitive advantage. In Head of Health Psychology Professor Keith Petrie, of the University of Auckland, and Atlantis’s European Head of Health Psychology, Professor John Weinman of the University of London, the company has two of the world’s leading thinkers on Health Psychology to complement its expertise in research, communication, and customer understanding.

Whittaker says “it’s that mix that allows Atlantis to design programmes that address the needs of the individual patient”. “Changing patient behaviour is above all a matter of understanding each individual’s barriers to change, and developing a solution accordingly. There is no one-size fits all strategy.”

 “Traditional healthcare models are built around treating acute conditions, and are often not equipped to give patients with chronic illnesses the support they need to effectively self-manage their treatment,” he says.

“Essentially, we are looking to fill the gap that exists between the pharmaceutical industry, healthcare providers and funders, and patients, in a way that ensures the optimum outcome for all parties.

As part of the investment Atlantis will also establish a research institute, which Whittaker says the Company seeks to develop over time to become one of the world’s leading centres for researching and developing innovative, scalable solutions to the issue of non-adherence.

Atlantis has recruited Walter Stahl, a 30+ year veteran of the healthcare industry with experience throughout Asia, in Europe, to become the chairman of the board of directors.

White Cloud Capital founding partner Nicholas Watkins, who will also join the Atlantis board along with businessman Gary Paykel, says Atlantis is bringing fresh thinking to a crucial issue facing countries around the world: how to improve population health outcomes in an economically viable way.