Private equity titan Carlyle has backed clinical trial data management business Saama Technologies to expand its go-to-market capabilities and further investment in AI research and development.
Healthcare-focused venture funds Amgen Ventures, Intermountain Ventures, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, McKesson Ventures, Northpond Ventures, Pfizer Ventures, and Population Health Partners invested alongside Carlyle.
Saama offers an end-to-end platform for 50 pharma and biotech companies to manage and analyse clinical trial data covering more than 1,500 studies. The platform’s pre-trained AI embedded smart applications can learn the complex patterns among the data to provide predictive insights to accelerate the research process.
Joe Bress, managing director specializing in healthcare at Carlyle, said, “The life sciences industry is at an exciting crossroads, poised to adopt and integrate sophisticated data management and analytics solutions that we believe will accelerate clinical timelines in previously unimaginable ways. We’re excited to partner with Saama as they work to redefine the drug development paradigm.”
Carlyle has invested $17bn of equity in healthcare and $25bn of equity in technology since its inception, including $2bn in healthcare technology and tech-enabled growth companies.
The firm bought into life sciences tools business Unchained Labs in a $435m deal in April.
It closed Carlyle Partners VII on $18.5bn in 2018, making it the largest fundraise in the firm’s history.
It was reported in July that Carlyle was looking to break the record again by eyeing up to $27bn for its latest flagship vehicle.
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