$40m financing to expand AI-powered platform for clinical trials: Saama

25-Mar-2019 - Last updated on 25-Mar-2019 at 13:56 GMT

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The clinical data analytics platform firm has raised $75m since 2015 and will continue to enhance both the platform and applications with new capabilities, says CEO.

Saama Technologies today announced that it has closed a $40m financing with Perceptive Advisors, a NY-based firm that focuses on supporting the life sciences industry.

Saama CEO Suresh Katta said the new funding will be used to further invest in and expand the company’s Life Science Analytics Cloud (LSAC).

The platform is powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to support clinical trial design and conduct across various development stages, according to the company.

The new financing – bringing the total Saama has raised since 2015 to $75m – also will help strengthen the company’s commercial team and build its “ecosystem of pharma partners, academia, data providers, and CROs to maximize LSAC utilization and build a suite of collective innovations,” Katta told us.

“Saama will continue to enhance both the platform and applications with new capabilities,” he added, noting recently examples including three new machine learning-based capabilities that extend the existing functionality of LSAC.

The new virtual assistant, operational and financial risk mitigation, and drug efficacy and patient safety analytics capabilities were released during the 10th Annual Summit for Clinical Ops Executives (SCOPE) in Orlando, FL.

Katta said, “Saama is applying Moore's Law to pharma to bring about transformative impact in life sciences by bending the cost and time curve down by applying ruthless amounts of technology to the entire ecosystem of vendors in the drug development process.”