Merck led other highly reputable healthcare technology investors in its latest big bet. Through the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, it played the key role in putting together a $40 million investment in TriNetX. Other investors included Mitsui, ITOCHU, MPM Capital, F2 Ventures and Deerfield Management.
Like other large Pharmaceutical companies, Merck has a venture arm that pursues innovative technologies that it can leverage in its overall portfolio of technologies both in use and in development. Merck views data as the currency of health care. It sustains a $500 million evergreen fund and to date has invested in over 40 companies.
The Merck fund focuses on a few key areas, they include therapy planning, care management, eClinical trials, and Health Analytics & AI. TriNetX fits within the eClinical trials bucket. The Company has built a data platform containing clinical and claims information generated from more than 300 million global patients. It provides real-world data to clinical researchers on demand alongside supporting analytics tools.
"We've created the only real-world evidence ecosystem that brings data, analytics and a researcher community together, to aid in the design of randomized or pragmatic clinical trials and support of observational studies, whether retro- or prospective, controlled or longitudinal,” TriNetX CEO Gadi Lachman said in a statement.
The $40 million will be used for expansion in Europe, Asia and South America. Also, the Company will continue to develop the AI, machine learning and digital clinical trial components of its analytics platform.
According to Joe Volpe, VP and managing director of Merck GHIF, "Real-world data is important when conducting clinical trials, drug research and discovery today." Adding, "TriNetX enables a global industry exchange and liberates data with the potential to rapidly provide answers to hard questions. With TriNetX, what previously took days or weeks to determine may often be done in minutes — that’s why we're excited to participate in this financing round to grow and expand TriNetX's offerings."
