Funding Round Led by IQVIA will Allow the Company to Expand its Offering of Patient Services Across Specialty Pharmacies, and Affordability and Specialty Hub
HelpAround, Inc., the innovator behind the HelpAround Mobile Patient Concierge Platform, announced today its $6M financing round, led by IQVIA (NYSE:IQV), which was joined by existing investors, including Windham Ventures. HelpAround has completed the initial closing of its round and anticipates the final closing to occur in Q1 2020. As part of the agreement, an executive from IQVIA will be joining HelpAround’s board of directors.
HelpAround intends to use the funding to accelerate its growth into the specialty drug market, where approximately 35% of patients discontinue therapy before the first refill.
“Our top priority is to provide patients with a private, secure experience that fits their individual lives,” said Yishai Knobel, co-founder and chief executive officer of HelpAround. “We are excited to have IQVIA lead the round and work with us on the joint mission to improve the lives of millions of patients who are struggling to follow their prescribed therapies.”
“Through our work with HelpAround, we are able to include an adaptive, mobile patient experience as part of our commercialization and clinical trial offerings,” said Gregg Dearhammer, senior vice president of Data Sciences, Safety and Regulatory at IQVIA. “We believe their unique passive data and AIML technology will detect when patients are not adherent to trial protocols, enabling site coordinators and other HCPs to engage on patients’ behalf.”
HelpAround’s platform enables drug manufacturers to adapt therapy on-boarding and trial protocols to the human behind the smartphone. The platform helps patients navigate complex treatments by matching available patient services to the patient’s real-life profile and lifestyle: targeted affordability options, matching to similar peers, on-the-go chat support, and more.
“HelpAround has always been a pioneer in humanizing patient support,” said Chris Bergstrom, Partner & Head of Digital Therapy at BCG Digital Ventures. “The company’s impressive work with renal disease, diabetes, and now in specialty therapies, has the potential of helping millions of patients initiate and adhere to the treatment they need”.