Kiyatec CEO talks Greenville expansion, cancer-treatment research

It might be hard to imagine that potentially lifesaving cancer research is happening in the heart of downtown Greenville daily, but it is. And it might be hard to imagine that the man at the head of that effort is neither a physician nor a scientist. But, while Kiyatec CEO Eric Perrault graduated Rhode Island College with a degree in mass communications and theater, he also brings more than 30 years of experience in the diagnostics space to his role, along with a nose for business and a knack for making complex ideas easy to understand.

“It’s funny. When I was at Rhode Island College, I got involved in a lot of business-related extracurricular activities,” Perrault says. “That included booking entertainers — The Bangles, comedian Dana Carvey — I helped bring them to campus. It exposed me to marketing, promotions and contract management.”

And it launched Perrault into a sales career that started with American Greetings Corp.

“We called it the ‘social expressions industry,’ but it was greeting cards,” he says.

Eventually, Perrault took his sales and marketing expertise into the medical field, where he has held key leadership positions in a host of reputable medical and patient care companies, including a few startups.

“I’ve helped launch about 25 products in a marketing-leadership role,” he says. “And for the last 13 or so, I’ve been heavily involved in novel, diagnostic, first-to-market startups.

“I really enjoy the challenge of bringing something novel, that has the potential to impact patient care, to the market,” he says. “It’s not easy, but it’s fun.”

Kiyatec approach to cancer care

He joined Kiyatec as CEO in 2023 and says the company’s cancer-focused research drew him in, having lost his mother to bone cancer.

“You see the personal impact of what cancer does to the patient and family members,” he says. “I wanted to take all my experience and turn it toward cancer.”

Kiyatec’s novel approach to cancer care focuses on glioblastomas — brain tumors — which are aggressive. The company’s trademarked 3D Predict platform analyses, within a few days, how patients’ tumors respond to a series of recommended chemotherapy treatments, allowing physicians and patients alike to choose the best treatment plan.

Perrault’s knack for breaking down complex ideas is on full display as he explains how the process works.

“Neuro oncologists take biopsies of patients’ glioblastomas, and overnight them to our 25,000-square-foot lab in downtown Greenville via UPS Healthcare,” he says. “The first thing we do is take that live tissue and build it out into a thousand micro-environments which are tiny, little wells, to keep the cancer alive in an environment that mimics the human body. Then, we test it against a panel of 12 recommended chemo treatments. And we do it all within seven days.”

And the market is responding. Perrault says Kiyatec doubled patients from 2022 to 2023 and expects the same market penetration in 2024.

“All we’re doing is providing actionable information,” he says. “And more information is always a good thing.”