Basel, Switzerland-based pharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences has launched a new subsidiary called Alyvant dedicated to tech-enabled commercialization of drugs.
Veteran pharma executive Gillian Cannon has brought in as Alyvant’s president and chief operating officer. Prior to her role at Alyvant, Cannon has worked for a string of big pharma companies including Merck, UCB and Otsuka.
Essentially the company will be focused on connecting de-identified patient data with physician data to connect patient populations with suitable medications. Currently, Alyvant is focused on co-promotion of three approved medicines.
“Alyvant’s technology integrates market research, sales force optimization, and digital engagement into a single platform to connect patients and physicians with relevant medicines as cost-effectively as possible,” Roivant Health President Benjamin Zimmer said in a statement.
“This technology platform allows us to engage new market segments that are underserved by traditional pharma commercial models, while also reducing the need for expensive and wasteful mass-market DTC campaigns that inflate the cost of delivering new medicines to patients.”
Roivant has raised nearly $2 billion from investors, including a $1.1 billion mega-round from Softbank’s Vision Fund and a $200 million equity financing round earlier this year which valued the company at $7 billion.
The company was founded by CEO Vivek Ramaswamy and has created a number of subsidiaries under the “Vant” umbrella including dermotology-focused Dermavant, neurology-focused Axovant and women’s health-focused Myovant Sciences.
Roivant’s strategy largely consists of purchasing discarded compounds at a discounted price and forming a company around them to bring their products to market.
More recently the company has been looking at ways to improve and speed up the drug development and commercialization with AI and data science technology through subsidiaries like Alyvant and Datavant.
Ramaswamy will be presenting further updates on the Roivant family of companies at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Jan. 7 at 9:30 a.m. View the webcast at this link.
Photo: from2015, Getty Images
