Antidote Technologies, a clinical trial matching platform, has raised £11m in a funding round led by Merck Global Health Innovation Fund (GHI) and joined by existing investors Smedvig Capital and Octopus Ventures.

Helping patients find medical trials online, the start-up has made 14,000 ‘matches’ to date, and plans to reach full coverage of US trials next year with added features, such as matching cancer patients to studies using mutation-level data.

According to Antidote, 80% of clinical trials are delayed or closed due to a lack of patients taking part, with the start-up claiming its “on a mission to solve this critical problem by transforming the way patients and researchers connect”. Now serving more than 180 leading patient communities such as JDRF, Lung Cancer Alliance, and Health line, patients simply answer questions about their health, and the platform provides matching studies in their neighborhood.

Co-founded by Pablo Graiver, and previously called TrialReach, the company is already a participant in the Cancer Moonshot project – which seeks to help discover vaccinations that can cure cancer. The fresh injection of cash, which brings its total amount of funding to $26m, will allow the digital health start-up to accelerate the development of its trial matching platform and reach “millions more patients in need of new and better treatments”. “We are excited to back Antidote given the company’s focus on solving the critical issue of matching patients with the right clinical trials,” said Francesca Wuttke, Managing Director at Merck GHI in a press release.

“We think the Antidote approach fits well with our focus on investing in companies that play a critical role in the new digital clinical trial management ecosystem.” Antidote Match is based on generating structured eligibility criteria, proprietary algorithms, and machine learning. To date, the company has made 14,000 clinical trials matchable and plans to reach full coverage of US trials next year with enhanced capabilities, such as matching cancer patients to studies using mutation-level data. Notably, the company is already a participant in the Cancer Moonshot project.

“We are looking to unleash progress by backing entrepreneurs who dare to go big and create change,” said Malcolm Ferguson, Principal at Octopus Ventures. “We have had the privilege of working with Pablo Graiver and the Antidote team since 2013, and we’ve seen the business evolve into a leading player in the clinical trial patient recruitment space through their innovative platform technology. We are excited to have Merck GHI join us on this journey, and we are happy to continue to support Antidote in this next phase of growth.”

This year, Antidote has made its clinical trial matching platform accessible to the pharmaceutical industry with Match APITM, a web and mobile app layer that allows any organization to match patients to their portfolio or program of trials and build insights. The company is also piloting Antidote BaseTM (Beta), a SaaS offering that enables research sites to invite local, engaged patients to participate in their studies. “Since its last round of funding, Antidote has successfully implemented its platform and grown significantly in the UK and the US,” said Jordan Mayo, Advisor and member of the Investment Committee at Smedvig Capital.

“We are confident the company will continue to expand, providing benefit to trial sponsors, patient organizations, and patients alike.” “We couldn't wish for a better endorsement of Antidote’s high-scale ecosystem approach to patient engagement than this round led by Merck GHI, a fund that has a deep understanding of the problem we are solving,” said Pablo Graiver, Founder and CEO of Antidote. “We are also grateful for the continued support from Octopus Ventures and Smedvig Capital. Antidote is excited to embark on the next stage of transforming medical research to deliver new treatments faster to the people who need them.”