MedNetworks, a start-up company launched on Monday, uses technology to map, analyze and activate social networks across a broad range of health constituencies in order to identify trends and predict future behavior.

The Newton, Mass. company is based on technology developed by professor Nicholas Christakis of Harvard University, a physician and social scientist renowned for his groundbreaking research on social factors influencing health. MedNetworks has an exclusive license from Harvard to use the Christakis technology in the healthcare sector.

MedNetworks offers pharmaceutical firms, health plans, corporations and hospitals a new method for analyzing real-life social networks of physicians and patients and identifying patterns of influence. Using analytics, MedNetworks maps social networks, evaluates strength and dynamic development of connections of members of these networks, ranks individual influence and performs predictive modeling.

"For most human phenomena, the power of social influence reverberates through any network – be it social or professional," said Christakis, scientific founder and board member of MedNetworks. "Identifying and harnessing these patterns will fundamentally change the way the healthcare industry understands its providers and patients. This knowledge will empower our clients to leverage existing data to disseminate information and focus interventions more efficiently, rapidly and effectively."

Among physicians, for example, MedNetworks has the ability to map detailed networks in communities, evaluate the number and strength of connections between physicians, identify clusters of practitioners and discern influence patterns. By applying this analysis to large data sets, MedNetworks can create detailed, actionable information, allowing more efficient and effective use of promotional efforts.

"While the applications for the social network analysis models coming out of the Christakis Lab are extraordinarily broad, healthcare offers an excellent starting point," said Larry Miller, MedNetworks CEO. "It's a sector where data are often available, but not always used effectively."

For example, said Miller, "we're already turning conventional wisdom on its head regarding pharmaceuticals, proving that current approaches fail to take advantage of critical information about social networks. Our analyses indicate that significant influence occurs in social networks beyond high prescribers, so there are advantages to adjusting the focus of promotion. Use of network approaches takes advantage of the 'multiplier effect,' where interventions can have dramatically greater effects as they propagate throughout the networks. The result is a much more efficient, and likely more effective, approach to promotion."

MedNetworks has raised $5 million in Series A financing from Boston-based Excel Venture Management in order to commercialize the technology. In connection with this financing, Steve Gullans and Juan Enriquez, managing directors, Excel Venture Management,will join the MedNetworks Board of Directors.

"The technology MedNetworks is using to analyze and activate social networks has tremendous power and broad applicability to help grow various businesses and enhance their profitability," said Gullans. "This approach has spawned an entire field in academia and is now poised to transform healthcare by helping reduce overall costs and improve outcomes."