N-Power Medicine, a company focused on reinventing the clinical trial process, has announced the initial close of a Series B funding round, bringing its total funding to $72 million. The round was led by Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, with participation from a US-based healthcare-focused investor. The funding will be used to expand the company’s network of oncology clinics and biopharmaceutical company collaborations, leveraging N-Power’s platform for integrating clinical research into routine patient care.
Addressing Clinical Trial Inefficiencies
According to Mark Lee, M.D., Ph.D, N-Power Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, the average oncology drug takes 10 years to go from development to market, with eight of those years spent in clinical trials. He stated that the current clinical trial paradigm is inefficient for centers running trials and inaccessible to most oncologists and their patients in the community. N-Power's vision is to radically accelerate drug development timelines by enabling every oncologist and cancer patient to readily participate in advancing drug development.
N-Power's Integrated Platform
Founded in 2021, N-Power Medicine aims to expedite patients’ access to innovative therapies by developing an integrated platform that provides a single workflow for both clinical trial and routine patient management. The company’s "human in the loop" model, which includes virtual and on-site staff assisted by AI-enabled workflow automation, supports oncologists in generating research-ready data for all patients and preparing standardized clinical documentation.
Merck's Perspective
David M. Rubin, Ph.D., Managing Director, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, stated that they are focused on partnering with innovative companies like N-Power that facilitate and optimize biopharmaceutical operations to improve patient care. He added that N-Power’s approach offers the opportunity to expand clinical research to more oncologists and their patients through standardized data collection, actionable insights, and the resources to participate in accelerated drug development.
Key Components of the Platform
N-Power’s platform consists of three fundamental components:
- Kaleido™ Registry: Collects prospective, real-time, standardized patient data designed to support clinical trials and drug development. Over 7,000 patients have consented and enrolled in the registry to date.
- Point of Care Technology: Enables seamless workflow management and provides secure, timely access to patient data and insights while ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and quality standards for prospective clinical research.
- On-site and Virtual Experts: Support oncologists and research staff to operationalize the Registry and support clinical documentation, reducing their overall workload and allowing them to focus on patient care and research.
With all patients participating in the Registry, standardized data collection readily enables actionable insights for clinical research, such as real-time, proactive identification of trial-eligible patients, as well as patient characteristics and outcomes that inform trial design.
Impact on Oncologists and Patients
Barbara L. McAneny, MD, FASCO, MACP, founder and Chief Executive Officer of the New Mexico Cancer Center and Past President of the American Medical Association, noted that N-Power is working to solve major challenges for oncologists, such as managing electronic medical records, finding patients for clinical trials, and reporting requirements for CMS. She added that N-Power’s "superscribes" enable cancer doctors to focus more on patients, as the N-Power Staff manages the chart and consents the patient to join the registry, which allows them to find trial candidates and send the required reports.
