A healthcare analytics company that provides data for life sciences companies, payers, providers and regulatory agencies has attracted an infusion of investment from several healthcare companies.
New York-based Aetion said Tuesday that it received a $27 million investment from drugmakers Sanofi and UCB, as well as McKesson Ventures and Horizon Health Services. Amgen Ventures had invested money earlier, while existing investors participating included NEA, Flare Capital and Lakestar. The investment caps a $63 million Series B funding round and brings the total amount of funding the company has received to $77 million since it was launched in 2015.
Aetion plans to use the funding to build up its product, the Aetion Evidence Platform, and move into therapeutic area-related intelligence, outcomes-based contracting for payers and promote RWE globally. It noted that RWE is particularly important for value-based care.
The company’s focus is on real-world evidence, delivered through the platform, which analyzes data to produce what it calls transparent, rapid and scientifically validated answers on treatments, costs and outcomes. “We’re entering a new era in which nearly the entire healthcare ecosystem – from biopharma and regulators to payers and technology companies – recognizes the importance of using real-world evidence to reduce the time and cost to bring new therapies to market,” CEO Carolyn Magill said in a statement. “This funding demonstrates that the industry’s leaders, who are using our technology to drive healthcare’s most critical decisions, view Aetion as a trusted partner vital to their long-term success.”
The company said its product is used by eight of the 15 largest biopharma companies, payers, academic institutions and international regulatory bodies, including the Food and Drug Administration. The company started its partnership with the FDA in 2018 to recreate 30 randomized clinical trials through real-world evidence in order to demonstrate RWE’s value as an “accelerant” to drug approval and access decisions, in a study titled DUPLICATE. The study is referenced in the FDA’s RWE program framework.
The FDA announced the framework in December, with the goal of using RWE to support drug development. The idea is to use information gathered from patients and healthcare professionals in order to inform and shape the agency’s decisions across its development efforts around pharmaceuticals and biologics. It’s part of the 21st Century Cures Act, which requires the FDA to release a plan for how it will continue to advance those efforts.
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