What You Should Know:
– Medable raises $25M in funding to expand global platform for decentralized clinical trials led by GSR Ventures, with additional investment from existing investor PPD, Inc.
– Founded in 2015, Medable’s global decentralized trial platform streamlines design, recruitment, retention and data quality, replacing siloed systems with integrated digital tools, data and interfaces to accelerate trial execution.
Medable, Inc., a Palo Alto, CA-based global platform for decentralized clinical trials, today announced $25 million in funding to accelerate clinical drug development with digital technology, enabling effective new therapies to reach patients faster. The funding round was led by GSR Ventures, with additional investment from existing investor PPD, Inc. The funding brings Medable’s total capital raised to more than $45 million to date.
Reducing Clinical Trials by 50%
Founded in 2015 by Dr. Michelle Longmire and Tim Smith, Medable is on a mission to reduce clinical trial timelines by 50 percent. The company’s global decentralized trial platform streamlines design, recruitment, retention and data quality, replacing siloed systems with integrated digital tools, data and interfaces to accelerate trial execution.
The investment will be used to extend product development, partnerships and market adoption for Medable’s decentralized trial platform, which brings together clinical trial participants, clinical research sites, partners and analytics to enable more patient-centric and informed clinical research.
Growing Importance of Decentralized Clinical Trials
Decentralized clinical trials can reach a broader, more representative population; speed up recruitment and enrollment; generate more robust data; and be more convenient and accessible for patients. A digital trial infrastructure will also allow for new types of monitoring and analysis, including digital endpoints; integration of wearable devices; and enhanced Phase 4 monitoring of patients after trial endpoints have been reached.
Many of these needs and opportunities are magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has accelerated interest in Medable’s platform over the past 60 days. Prior to the pandemic, decentralized trials were gaining momentum but still considered a “nice to have.” In the current environment, decentralized trials have become a necessity as many clinical sites are shut down or not seeing non-COVID-19 patients—and patients around the world are sheltering in place.
Recent Milestones/Traction
The company has become a leader in the movement to digitize and virtualize clinical trials. Over the past several years, Medable’s team has built a modular digital platform-as-a-service that streamlines clinical trials with direct-to-patient technologies. The platform is now used by leading biopharma sponsors and clinical research organizations worldwide, and has been used for trials in 30+ countries and 26 languages.
“This is an important milestone for Medable and the industry’s shift to decentralized trials, which are critical to bringing effective therapies to patients faster,” said Dr. Michelle Longmire, CEO and co-founder of Medable. “As we’ve seen with the COVID-19 pandemic, traditional trial processes and timelines are insufficient to meet the global need for clinical research. Decentralized trials can improve access to new therapies and trials for participants, as well as reduce trial timelines.”
