Research Grid raises $6.5 million to make clinical trials admin-free

Research Grid Ltd United States of America United Kingdom California

Products built from first-hand experience

The company was founded by Dr Amber Hill, a former medical researcher with a PhD in biomedical neuroscience and a background in AI research technology. This first-hand experience of the clinical trials means she was uniquely positioned to build a solution, with a deep understanding of the problem.

The recruitment phase is a common source of delays in clinical trials, due to the extremely manual process of sourcing representative samples of patients which are often sourced via adverts on social media. Increased pressure from the FDA to ensure representative patient panels means this has become increasingly important.

Research Grid's Inclusive product, a patient recruitment and engagement platform, largely solves this problem, providing instant access to a vetted network of more than 91,000 global communities covering 2,050 medical conditions. It also automates all the admin, such as patient outreach, payments, and data management. 

The TrialEngine product, which connects seamlessly with Inclusive, handles the administration, data, and reporting workflows during the trial itself. It leverages Research Grid's AI algorithms to automate tasks such as protocol generation and data extraction.

Dr Amber HIll, Founder and CEO of Research Grid, said: 

"I spent 14 years as a medical researcher, and I would spend hundreds of hours copying data from one system to another. The back-office process is completely broken. When you multiply this across the industry the costs for patients and research institutions are astronomical.  

"That's why we're building the automation engine for admin-free clinical trials. Whether you're a pharmaceutical company, a CRO, or a clinical research site, we can help run faster, more successful clinical trials. We've already seen how AI is accelerating drug discovery and it's time to do the same in clinical trials.

"We're delighted to have the support of our investors. Now we're focusing on expanding our engineering teams and scaling up our R&D efforts, allowing us to deliver more of the features our customers are asking for. We'll also be growing our sales and marketing team so that we can take advantage of opportunities in the US and Asia."

Shiv Patel, Partner at Fuel Ventures, said:

"We are committed to backing the most innovative and disruptive businesses in the country, and our investment into Research Grid reinforces this.

"While AI is making significant waves in drug discovery, clinical trials are still the main barrier to medicine reaching the people who need it, and Research Grid is strategically placed to exploit the urgent demand of automating clinical trials at scale. Its rapid growth has shown that the market is largely green-field, with validation from across the industry in the U.S. and Europe, including big pharma, contract research organisations and sites.

"Every investor wants to find unicorns, and with the clinical trial market expected to reach over $95 billion in the next five years, we believe in the mission, proposition and trajectory of Research Grid."

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