Dr. Sohail Masood

Dr. Sohail Masood received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from University of Southern California (USC) in 1988, and completed his pharmacy residency at Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, in 1989.

After returning to Los Angeles, Dr. Masood established and ran the home infusion pharmacy at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, CA. In 1992 Dr. Masood secured a $50,000 line of credit and rented 1,800 square feet of warehouse in Paramount, CA. He started Ultracare, a home infusion pharmacy, with his wife Mona Masood, a pharmacist by profession. While working closely with physicians and their patients, and analyzing drug therapy needs throughout the state, Dr. Masood identified an opportunity to develop and grow the market for Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) for the treatment of chronically ill individuals with neuromuscular diseases. The first two patients in California receiving IVIG for their neuromuscular disorders received their treatment from Ultracare. Before Dr. Masood used IVIG for his neuromuscular patients, IVIG uses were very limited. Most of the IVIG was used in the hospital setting for Guillain Barre Syndrome. No home infusion industry existed at that time to deal with patients suffering from neuromuscular diseases that were receiving IVIG.

In the early 1990s the efficacy of IVIG in treating patients with neuromuscular disorders was unfamiliar to physicians and insurance companies. Therefore, getting approval for the treatment from insurance companies was almost impossible. Dr. Masood, with the help of renowned neurologists, started educating the insurance companies, Medicare, and Medicaid, resulting in positive changes in reimbursement policies. By educating the neurologists, many new diagnoses were found to be responsive to IVIG, including MMN (Multifocal Motor Neuropathy), Stiff Person Syndrome, Small Fiber Neuropathy, and more.  

In 1995, Dr. Masood added nursing services and changed the company name to Crescent Healthcare, Inc.

In 1997, a crisis occurred in the IVIG patient population. As a result of Medicare policy changes in February 1997, Medicare patients with CIDP (Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy) treated with IVIG in California, could no longer receive the drug. Many patients who were receiving IVIG were able to walk while receiving IVIG. If their therapy was stopped, they would have become wheelchair-bound again. Rather than not provide the drug to the patients, Dr. Masood disagreed with Medicare’s decision and took a great financial risk by continuing to supply physicians and their patients with this drug for six months without reimbursement. Dr. Masood was the only IVIG provider in 1997 who took that risk.

Lobbying efforts to Medicare were launched by Dr. Masood with the help of Senator Boxer’s office to reconsider their decision, and eventually Dr. Masood’s efforts paid off. The decision was reversed by Medicare in July of 1997, and IVIG was approved as a treatment for patients with CIDP, and all pending claims were paid off. The patients and their families were thankful to Dr. Masood for taking that bold step, where the financial risk was estimated at over $2 million.

Another round of lobbying efforts by Dr. Masood in 2003 convinced Medicare in California to approve IVIG for skin disorders, namely Pemphigus and Pemphigoid diseases. Congresswoman Nancy Johnson of Connecticut was instrumental in helping Crescent to get this approval.

In 1998, Dr. Masood acquired the home infusion business of Apria Healthcare in California, changing the name to Crescent Healthcare. By 2004 when he sold majority shares of the company to a Private Equity Firm, Crescent was the largest independently owned home infusion company in California. Crescent was sold to Walgreens in 2011.

In 2001, Dr. Masood in keeping up with his passion for research, sponsored a landmark study of IVIG use in Stiff Person Syndrome at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD. The research was stalled because IVIG was in shortage. Although IVIG is an expensive drug, and there was a shortage, Dr. Masood donated enough IVIG to NIH to complete the study. He won over major research physicians to his side. Stiff Person Syndrome patients are still getting benefits from this treatment.

In 2003 Dr. Masood started MAAS Medical, a medical device manufacturing company. The company created a state-of-the-art infusion pump for home-based patients. The company was sold to Baxter in 2007.

In 2009, Dr. Masood started KabaFusion, a home infusion company which has since grown to over 27+ pharmacies across the country, with service capabilities nationwide. Dr. Masood is the Chairman, and CEO. In 2020, KabaFusion acquired the home infusion business of Lincare, making it the largest independently owned and privately held infusion company in the US. 

Over the years, Dr. Masood has received a number of awards, including winning Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year three times, once in 1999 for Crescent Healthcare; and, again in 2017 & 2023 for KabaFusion.

In 2019, Dr. Masood became a member of the Board of Trustees for Worcester Arts Museum in Worcester, MA, a highly prestigious civic organization.

Recently, Dr. Masood has initiated new research in IVIG uses, namely in Diabetic Neuropathy (DN) through his non-profit entity, Dysimmune Diseases Foundation. The study will look at how IVIG can benefit Diabetic patients to fight off their DN, which causes numbness, tingling and pain. DN is the leading cause of limb amputations in patients with Diabetes.

Dr. Masood’s daughter Laila has opened a virtual reality gaming center called Pixel Paradise in Lexington MA. His son, Omar is a vibrant young man with Down’s Syndrome. He owns a comic book store called Omar’s World of Comics, also in Lexington, MA.