N-Power Medicine, a tech firm with a clinical trial platform for capturing real-world patient data, has acquired precision medicine firm Syapse Holdings. The buy links N-Power with Syapse’s network of 1,000 community oncologists and empowers it with Syapse’s data, technology and team.
The move establishes the largest community-based prospective clinical research network, N-Power said in a Jan 12. release. The goal of the broadened network is to fill gaps in patient access to community-based trials; more than 80% of U.S. cancer patients, especially from underrepresented groups, get their care through community-based health centers, according to the release.
“With this scale, N-Power accelerates the transformation of drug development that our pharma customers are asking for—enabling local access to clinical trials for more community oncologists and community cancer patients than ever before,” N-Power co-founder and CEO Mark Lee, M.D., Ph.D., said in the release.
By absorbing Syapse’s network, N-Power can provide pharma clients with diverse patient pools and the quick generation of the prospective external controls, the company said, allowing for leaner and speedier trials.
One of N-Power’s big-name clients is Merck & Co., which partnered with the CRO for trials in non-small cell lung cancer in July. That team-up came after N-Power closed a series B, led by the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, which brought N-Power’s total fundraising haul to $72 million.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 4:45 p.m. ET to correct the spelling of Syapse's name.