Venture capital firms launch clinical trial tech company with $203M in funding

Paradigm, a clinical trial technology company, has launched out of stealth with $203 million in Series A funding.

Paradigm will use the money to build a clinical research platform for provider and biopharmaceutical customers. The company has also acquired Deep Lens, a clinical trial patient recruitment company focused on oncology, for an undisclosed price.

Paradigm was conceived by venture capital firm ARCH Venture Partners and co-created by ARCH and General Catalyst, another venture capital firm. Along with ARCH and General Catalyst, investors in this stealth round include F-Prime Capital, GV, LUX Capital and Mubadala Capital, which is the state-owned investment firm for United Arab Emirates.

ARCH tapped clinical research industry veteran Kent Thoelke to Paradigm. Thoelke was chief scientific officer at PRA Health Sciences, which clinical research organization ICON acquired in 2021.

Along with Thoelke, Paradigm’s executive team includes a number of pharmaceutical digital health veterans. Milind Kamkolkar, the former chief data officer at Sanofi, is chief operating officer and Jonathan Hirsch, founder of real-world evidence company Syapse, is chief strategy and growth officer.

Clinical trials have become a popular target for disruption both by technology and retail players. There were 17 deals for digital health companies developing clinical trial technology, collectively valued at nearly $300 million, last year, according to Digital Health Business & Technology’s database. This potential has drawn interest from drugmakers such as GSK, the British pharmaceutical giant, which signed a four-year deal in September with Medable, a clinical trial software unicorn.

Retailers such as Walgreens Boots Alliance, CVS Health and The Kroger Co. have also entered the fray. Walgreens launched a clinical trial business in June to build a decentralized platform and offer in-person locations for recruiting and conducting clinical trials. CVS Health started a clinical trial division in 2021 and teamed with Medable for a virtual component last year. On Wednesday, Kroger announced its own clinical trial initiative in partnership with Persephone Biosciences.

This story first appeared in Digital Health Business & Technology.