Shifting the Clinical Research Paradigm

A discussion with Kent Thoelke, CEO of Paradigm, on our most recent investment in clinical trial transformation

Clinical trials — with their year-long wait times and heavy cost structure — continue to present a significant obstacle to advancements in healthcare. The average length of a clinical trial process is nine years, and costs around $1.3 billion. Even with the time and the resources, 80% of studies are delayed due to accrual problems and dropout rates. As a result, only one out of ten drug candidates that enter a Phase 1 study makes it to market.

At Mubadala Capital Ventures, we believe in supporting disruptive companies in healthcare, and particularly those focused on addressing the challenges in the clinical trial infrastructure. Kent Thoelke is one of the leading figures challenging the status quo of the existing clinical trial infrastructure. As CEO of Paradigm, a digital healthcare company building an end-to-end clinical research platform that enables any physician anywhere to participate in clinical research. Uniquely positioned to potentially provide value to multiple stakeholders within the healthcare system, Paradigm is at the cutting edge of technology and clinical trial design by building an equitable clinical research ecosystem that reduces operational burden, and Mubadala is excited to participate in Paradigm’s $203M Series A financing[CL1] .

I was thrilled to host a fireside chat last week with Kent to discuss the challenges within the current clinical trial environment, Paradigm’s vision and its transformative platform, and how the company’s technology can provide value to physicians, patients and biopharma sponsors.

According to Kent, previous point solutions aimed to solve individual problems within the healthcare ecosystem. However, these so-called “solutions” ended up adding more complexity, creating barriers for physicians to participate in clinical research or preventing patients from getting care.

To that end, Paradigm was founded to address inefficiencies in clinical research in a holistic way by offering a fully scalable, compliant, all-in-one platform where physicians and patients can easily access clinical trials and associated data. “It really is [about] reimagining not only the clinical trial paradigm but the healthcare delivery paradigm so that it is one ecosystem,” says Kent. “Our goal is to help make clinical trials more efficient.” As a result, the company is in a unique position to potentially enable any clinician, regardless of location, to easily connect and participate in clinical research. For patients, Paradigm’s technology has the potential to allow all patient populations, regardless of their socioeconomic and geographic status, to have better, equitable access to care.

For biopharma trial sponsors, Paradigm’s platform allows for “more shots on goal”. By providing sponsors with an integrated, end-to-end interface that can scale recruitment to get more patients into trials faster and collect quality data quicker, the technology has the potential to accelerate clinical development timelines and reduce drug development costs.

For decades, the same groundwork for running clinical trials has been used with low success rates. Paradigm plans to shift the momentum so more patients can get the best care possible, more rapidly and efficiently. Over the next 12 months, Paradigm plans to deploy, optimize and scale its technology, working with large healthcare systems and pharma partners to help improve access, patient recruitment and accrual.

For Mubadala Capital Ventures, global change in healthcare has been a focus since our inception in 2017. We’ve supported disruptive technologies and visionary founders from early stage through to IPO with life-cycle capital and a partnership-driven approach. By backing companies like Paradigm, we remain committed to building the future of healthcare to fundamentally improve patient outcomes.

To learn more about our investment in Paradigm, please watch the fireside chat here.