In times of war, Israeli startup nabs $15m to help optimize clinical trials

Israeli startup PhaseV, a developer of a machine learning platform that helps design and analyze clinical trials announced on Tuesday that it has secured $15 million to expand its global footprint in the US and Europe.

The funding round was led by Israeli venture capital firm Viola Ventures and Exor Ventures, an investor in early-stage companies. Tel Aviv-based LionBird and a group of angel investors also participated in the financing round.

Founded in early 2023 by CTO Elad Berkman and CEO Raviv Pryluk, PhaseV has developed an artificial intelligence-based platform to help pharma and biotech companies analyze and optimize clinical trials using advanced algorithmic capabilities and machine learning technology.

The startup says the platform helps companies speed up the clinical drug development process through more efficient, targeted and more successful clinical trials.

“Our platform excels at uncovering hidden signals in clinical and real world data, enabling us to analyze a multitude of covariates using causal machine learning to evaluate the most advantageous next steps and decisions in the clinical development process,” said Pryluk. “This investment provides us with the resources to further advance our platform and expand our reach to additional pharma and biotech companies in Europe and the US, bringing new needed treatments to patients.”

The funding round announcement comes amid difficult times in particular for Israeli early-stage startups, who have been struggling to raise fresh capital since the war with the Hamas terror group broke out more than two weeks ago.

“Over two weeks ago, Israel faced an unprecedented terror attack and encountered a level of brutality unlike anything witnessed before,” said Pryluk. “We debated a lot whether to go out with this announcement, but we decided that we will not let terror win.”

“We must fight the darkness, but we also must spread light… This is our strength,” he added.

On average, developing a new drug or finding a potential blockbuster medicine takes billions of dollars over almost a decade because of the lengthy trials and lab work involved in the process. Despite these investments and efforts, over 90 percent of drug candidates in clinical trials fail to make it to market primarily due to a lack of efficacy and safety.

The average cost of developing a single new drug was $2.3 billion in 2022, with an average 7.1-year deployment time, according to a recent research report by Deloitte.

PhaseV seeks to tackle this challenge with a platform that uses proprietary machine learning technology to provide clinical development teams with an ability to retrospectively analyze and optimally design studies, as well as adapt in real time throughout the trial. The platform can detect hidden signals in clinical trial data and evaluate endpoints and subpopulations to redefine the success or failure of a trial, the startup said.