Berkeley HeartLab: Getting It Right the Second Time

Executive Summary

One of the great mysteries that has long bewildered cardiologists is why as many people with normal cholesterol levels suffer from heart disease and sudden cardiac death as do those with elevated cholesterol. Building on technology developed at the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley HeartLab has developed a battery of proprietary diagnostic tests that reveal cholesterol abnormalities that go beyond conventional HDL and LDL analysis. Berkeley HeartLab was founded as a cardiovascular reference lab that had a unique diagnostic approach but floundered largely because of the company's inability to convince cardiologists of the benefits of this new method over traditional cholesterol tests. A classic example of a re-start, new management appears to have unearthed the value in the company's proprietary testing program by recognizing the advantage in marketing Berkeley HeartLab's product as a cardiovascular diagnostic planning and disease management tool powered by web-enabled e-health technology.