As chief executive of Rational Therapeutics, Robert Irwin takes no greater pleasure than in saving lives.

A cancer research center and biotech company in Long Beach, Rational Therapeutics develops individualized treatment plans for patients. Irwin credits founder Dr. Robert Nagourney with successfully treating several people he knows.

“We make a difference here and we see it every day of the week,” Irwin said. “I have two or three very dear friends who attribute the fact that they’re still alive to Dr. Nagourney.”

The company has developed a type of test that determines a cancer tumor’s sensitivity to several different courses of chemotherapy. The test saves patients from potentially debilitating treatments that do little to stem cancer growth.

“Everybody’s cancer is unique,” Irwin said.

Irwin said cancer treatment has been relatively stagnant in the United States and thinks the ballooning cost of cancer care is one of the country’s largest health care problems.

The company’s test could save millions of dollars in health-care costs and improve the standard of treatment for cancer patients, maintained Irwin, who is in negotiations to have the treatment covered by Medicare and hopes private insurers will follow.

“My mission here is to get the message out,” Irwin said.

Rational Therapeutics is Irwin’s first venture in the health sector, and he says that he is drawing on his decades of experience in retail and management.

“Business is business,” Irwin said. “It’s all about revenue, marketing and cash flow.”

Irwin started his first business while in college at USC when he purchased a bankrupt carwash. After decades of expertise in startups and other ventures, Irwin consulted with the University of Pepperdine to set up its entrepreneurship program.

He went on to become a manager at Westinghouse Electric Corp. That, along with his role as chief executive of the management-consulting firm Outsourcing Services Inc., prepared Irwin for taking on the challenge of Rational Therapeutics.

“This is the most excited I’ve been about an endeavor in 20 years,” he said.

Irwin is a member of the Young Presidents Association and a trustee of Teamsters Health Insurance. He lives in the Long Beach area and enjoys boating and big game fishing.

Amanda Becker