Financing Backs Cancer Startup

"Lux Capital has led a $5 million seed financing for cancer clinical-trials startup Trial Library Inc., part of a series of investments the venture-capital firm has made in companies with technologies that could increase participation in medical research.

Clinical trials typically occur at urban academic medical centers, which can make participation difficult for people who live far from them. Mistrust of clinical research and the time and resources required to travel to trial sites also are hurdles, medical researchers say.

Such obstacles complicate efforts to enroll diverse study populations. Racial and ethnic minorities are frequently underrepresented in biomedical research, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

One consequence is that researchers can miss opportunities to learn how various groups of patients respond to a drug. Variations in genetic coding can make a treatment more or less toxic for one racial or ethnic group than another, according to the FDA, which in April said improving clinical trial diversity would be a focus for the agency.

Pharmaceutical companies also have stepped up efforts to enroll diverse populations for trials through community outreach and tools to widen the reach of clinical studies.

Lux Capital has been investing in companies seeking to help researchers with trial enrollment and make studies more diverse. They include Science 37 Holdings Inc., which enables patients to join studies from their home, and H1, whose technology platform helps drugmakers identify doctors who can help with clinical trials.

San Francisco-based Trial Library aims to increase clinical-trial participation among patients treated in community oncology practices, which have been less involved with cancer trials than academic medical centers.

"If we don't start by enabling inclusive trials, we'll never be able to achieve the broader goals of health equity," Lux Partner Deena Shakir said.

Trial Library, founded and led by Hala Borno, a University of California, San Francisco oncologist and health-equity researcher, seeks to remove obstacles to clinical trial participation.

Oncologists in community practices receive little or no reimbursement for screening patients for clinical trials, so this task falls down their list of things to do, according to Steve Buck, co-founder and chief product officer for Trial Library. The company, drawing on funding from its drugmaker customers, plans to reimburse community oncology practices for the time and effort of screening patients, Mr. Buck said.

Trial Library doesn't seek to steer people toward specific trials, leaving the decision of whether to participate in a trial, and which study to join, to doctors and patients, Mr. Buck said. Trial Library doesn't charge patients or healthcare providers for its products and services, according to Dr. Borno.

Trial Library also can direct patients to resources to help them with travel, food and lodging when participating in trials, according to Dr. Borno. The company, which is building a network of partner organizations that provide such assistance, plans to begin serving patients in September and will focus initially on community oncology practices in California, she said.

NEXT Ventures and individuals also participated in the seed financing." [1]

1. Financing Backs Cancer Startup
Gormley, Brian. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 19 Aug 2022: B.11.