MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Health2047 Inc., the Silicon Valley-based innovation subsidiary of the American Medical Association (AMA), has spun out portfolio company SiteBridge Research, Inc., which seeks to make clinical trials more accessible by empowering a broader set of physicians and their patients to take part in research though its novel ‘Trial-In-A-Box’ platform. SiteBridge Research (SiteBridge) is creating a sustainable path towards enriched real-world data (RWD) and real-world evidence (RWE), resulting in more widely applicable clinical trial results. This approach will accelerate the time to market and ultimately product adoption in communities that are harder to reach and have some of the highest unmet needs.
“We’re excited by SiteBridge Research’s mission to democratize clinical trials by opening access and removing barriers to different parts of the clinical trial ecosystem,” said Lawrence K. Cohen, CEO of Health2047. “This involves enabling trials to occur at point-of-care vs. traditional large academic institutions.”
Opening doors to more diverse RWD/RWE
FDA statistics persistently indicate 3% of U.S. physicians and patients take part in research today, with most clinical trials conducted in academic healthcare systems that serve primarily urban populations and often do not include medically underserved populations. Potential study participants may be too far away from the nearest study center, while physicians whose practices are not part of large provider systems lack the underlying support systems, training, and resources required to function as a clinical trial site. Minority and other underrepresented patient populations take part in clinical studies at rates less than half of their representation in the broader population.
Acceleration in the pace of research means the pharmaceutical industry is challenged to achieve its goals in saturated academic medical centers, yet they have been unable to effectively navigate the fragmented small and community practice space. Meanwhile, small and community practice physicians—most of whom are looking to diversify and strengthen their practice income while also giving their patients new options for innovative care—need a path to engage in trials they are not even considered for today.
Studies have become more complex and constrained by more restrictive inclusion and exclusion criteria that govern patient participation, further limiting the potential patient pool. By creating a clinical trial network of independent, small practice physicians, SiteBridge is enabling researchers to cast a wider net and gather more targeted data to optimize treatments across a broader, more inclusive patient population.
SiteBridge is developing a network of thought leaders already engaged directly with pharma to shape research study design and strategies to specifically target broader site and diverse patient representation. Establishing a trusted and sustained presence in the local communities through ongoing community engagement also encourages wider involvement by both independent physician practices and their patients.
The company’s ‘Trial-In-A-Box’ platform facilitates research through the application of best-of-breed technology, processes and functional expertise. The platform provides access to clinical research training, resources and support spanning the initial feasibility and site start-up through the full study delivery and close out. The team will offer flexible centralized and on-site support to remove administrative burdens and ensure that physicians can focus on supporting their patients. With seed funding in place and a mission-aligned founding team and advisors, the team is poised to build out a national network to support the next generation of clinical research.
SiteBridge’s executive team taps both physician and pharma industry perspectives. The company was founded by Manesh R. Patel, M.D., chief of the division of Cardiology and division of Clinical Pharmacology at Duke University School of Medicine. The chief executive officer is Chris Komelasky, formerly an executive at PPD, a global pharmaceutical contract research organization, and GSK. Representing Health2047 on the board is managing director Neile Grayson, who brings decades of experience in corporate development, biotech, and drug discovery and development.
“As health systems vow to improve health outcomes by tackling social determinants and inequities, it’s critical to ensure clinical trials represent the broadest possible patient set,” said SiteBridge CEO Chris Komelasky. “Our platform facilitates the participation of smaller physician practices in trials, so research studies can have more representative patient populations for the intended applications of the drugs being tested and create more realistic risk/benefit profiles for new treatments. It puts the focus of research on the trusted relationship between a physician and patient.”
“Our national experiences during the pandemic have highlighted the need to advance health equity, and as part of that commitment, we need to continue to find ways to connect more broadly into the community,” added Dr. Patel. “It’s the right thing to do and will help get the most innovative treatments to the patients who need them the most.”
A series in health innovation
SiteBridge is the most recent company to spin out of Health2047 in 2021. Other portfolio companies previously spun out by Health2047 include:
- Emergence Healthcare Group, whose turnkey practice solution is designed to reduce the administrative burdens and financial pressures intrinsic to today’s private practice. (2021)
- Phenomix Sciences, whose inaugural product is a phenotype-driven multi-omix blood test used to predict responses to FDA approved obesity interventions. (2021)
- Medcurio, whose instant data access solution simplifies insight extraction and allows healthcare organizations to harness the full value of their data quickly and efficiently while protecting patient data privacy. (2020)
- Zing Health, a tech-enabled Medicare Advantage plan that helps doctors and communities coordinate improved and individualized care for chronically underserved populations. (2019)
- First Mile Care, a preventive chronic care company building an affordable, scalable and sustainable platform to reverse prediabetes. (2018)
- Akiri, whose secure, private “network-as-a-service” enables the sharing and use of trusted health data in real time. (2017)
About SiteBridge Research
Led by healthcare and pharmaceutical industry experts, SiteBridge Research is making participation in clinical trials more accessible through its national site network of small and community practices that are typically left out of research. With its turnkey ‘Trial-In-A-Box’ platform, SiteBridge is creating a sustainable path towards enriched RWD/RWE resulting in more widely applicable clinical trial results. For more information on SiteBridge Research, please visit https://sitebridgeresearch.com/.
About Health2047
Health2047 Inc. is a Silicon Valley business formation and commercialization enterprise committed to enabling fundamental transformation in U.S. healthcare. In partnership with the AMA, Health2047 is transforming healthcare at the system level, seeking powerful ideas, industry partners and entrepreneurs to address systemic transformation in the areas of data utility, chronic disease prevention, radical productivity enhancement, and value-based payment. Health2047’s deep relationships with both the AMA and its network of strategic partners create a unique force multiplier that helps drive informed, large-scale change in healthcare. For more information, please visit www.health2047.com.
