Clinical trial technology firm Science 37 raises $29m funding

The round included new strategic investments from Amgen Ventures, as well as participation from all existing investors Lux Capital, Redmile Group, dRx Capital (a Qualcomm and Novartis joint investment company), and Sanofi Ventures. Total invested capital since inception is now nearly $67 million.

Noah Craft, MD, PhD, and co-founder and CEO of Science 37 said: “We’ve seen great success thus far in the model we developed. It has not only increased the number of people able to participate in clinical trials, but also reduced the time it takes to recruit by nearly 50 percent in some cases.

“The new funding will help us drive continued expansion and recruit top talent from both the technology and from the clinical trial industries. The round will also allow us to expand into new therapeutic areas and to introduce these trials to a much broader set of demographics, including those with limited access to major medical facilities where these trials are typically offered.”

Science 37’s core offering is focused on making clinical trials better for patients. The company is also directly working to address the lack of diversity represented in traditional trials. Currently only five percent of minorities are represented in all clinical trials and the percentage involved in cancer trials can be below two percent.

Statistics such as these were a major driving force in Science 37’s focus on creating a metasite to carry out telemedicine-based clinical research. The metasite or “site-less” clinical trial model enables them to bridge the geographic gap that exists between many patients and research focused medical facilities.

Science 37 uses their proprietary metasite and technology platform, the Network Oriented Research Assistant (NORA) to make clinical trials easier for patients to access from the comfort of their homes.

The metasite decentralizes trials, enabling patients to participate regardless of their geographical location using their mobile devices and telemedicine services, and includes Virtual Trial Specialists, mobile nursing companies, and study monitors to execute end-to-end clinical trial services for sponsors.

Scott Jordon, Managing Director at Glynn Capital Management said: “Science 37 has shown rapid growth since forming in September 2014,” said Scott Jordon, Managing Director at Glynn Capital Management.

“We believe the advances being made will fundamentally alter the landscape of research in the medical field and help drive more positive outcomes for all constituents.”

“Science 37 has developed a novel, decentralized framework for running clinical trials,” said Krishna Yeshwant, General Partner at GV. “The company has completed clinical trials with impressive early results, and has a great combination of operational expertise in clinical research, coupled with software sensibilities.”

The new funding will help speed additional development of the proprietary Science 37 NORA software platform, to scale the clinical operations teams to meet the tremendous demand for upcoming trials, to help expand into new innovative markets and therapeutic areas, and to prepare for international expansion in the coming years.

 Belinda Tan, MD, PhD, and co-founder and chief medical officer of Science 37 said: “Many new drug candidates never get developed as a direct result of the long timelines and costs required to complete a traditional study.

“The long recruitment process for trials alone is one of the biggest drivers of these drug development costs. By streamlining that process we hope to help bring new cures to patients faster.”