Verana Health, a digital health company that delivers drug lifecycle and medical practice insights from an exclusive real-world data network, has announced a $150 million Series E funding round.
Verana Health plans to use the proceeds of the investment to advance its life sciences product and service strategy across the drug lifecycle, further enhance its value proposition to healthcare providers participating in its real-world data network, and expand its data footprint through medical society and strategic partnerships.
Sujay Jadhav, CEO of Verana Health who joined the Company in August 2021 with more than 20 years of experience, including as the CEO of goBalto where he led the acquisition of the company by Oracle said:
“We’d like to thank both our existing and new investors for partnering with us, demonstrating confidence in the foundation we’ve built through our exclusive real-world data network and our advanced population health data engine, VeraQ.
“We’re especially pleased to have a strong mix of investors—including growth firms, life sciences innovation funds, and academia—who recognize the momentum we’ve built in powering real-world evidence by cultivating exclusive partnerships with three specialty medical societies and collaborating with four of the top five pharmaceutical companies.”
The round was led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. (JJDC) and Novo Growth, the growth-stage investment arm of Novo Holdings.
Existing Verana Health investors GV (formerly Google Ventures), Casdin Capital, and Brook Byers also joined the round, as well as new investors, including the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, THVC, and Breyer Capital.
With this infusion of capital, Verana Health is poised to accelerate its position as a market leader in powering quality real-world data to drive quality insights across the drug lifecycle.
The three-year-old Company will build upon its strong technology and data ecosystem—the VeraQ™ platform and its curated Qdata™ in ophthalmology, neurology, and urology—to advance clinical trials enablement, software-as-a-service, and real-world evidence.
The Company will also expand upon its established artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities with a particular focus on its pioneering use of natural language processing (NLP) to extract insights from unstructured text data in electronic health record (EHR) notes.
David W. Parke II, MD, Verana Health’s executive chairman and CEO of its first medical society partner, the American Academy of Ophthalmology said:
“The healthcare industry needs new ways of creating high-quality data sets from disorganized information dispersed throughout a myriad of electronic health record systems that often lack interoperability and standardization.
“Verana Health is solving this critical need by delivering and analyzing proprietary, curated data sets, Qdata, from both structured and unstructured data that maintain truth to original clinical context.
“The company is well-positioned to help healthcare providers advance quality care standards and life sciences companies accelerate clinical research and bring products to market that benefit both patients and physicians.”
Dr. Low and a representative from JJDC have also joined Verana Health’s Board of Directors.
Jeffrey Low, MD, principal at Novo Growth said: “Verana Health has shown incredible growth in its collaboration with leading pharmaceutical companies and medical societies.
“The Company has assembled a seasoned management team with deep experience in healthcare, science, and business that will continue to expand real-world evidence into multiple therapeutic areas with its unique and powerful health data platform, VeraQ.
“We are pleased to join Verana Health’s investors and look forward to working with the team to generate insights that ultimately help to improve quality of life for patients.”
