Startup Aetion is aiming to grow its business in Europe and Asia as the demand for real-world evidence solutions has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company, which offers real-world evidence and analytics to drug companies, payers, life sciences companies and regulatory agencies, scored $110 million in a series C funding round led by Warburg Pincus, a leading global growth equity firm, with additional investments from B Capital and Foresite Capital. Aetion’s existing backers New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Flare Capital Partners also joined the round.
The New York-based startup has raised a total of $212 million to date.
Aetion nearly doubled its revenue in 2020 and secured 100% of customer renewals while establishing valuable industry collaborations. Aetion became the first RWE company to establish an FDA COVID-19 Research Collaboration Agreement and was selected by The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, also known as drug-pricing watchdog ICER, as its preferred RWE partner and platform.
"In a post-COVID era, we have an imperative to use rapid, rigorous evidence to inform health care decisions," said Aetion CEO Carolyn Magill in a statement. "This investment reinforces Aetion's position as an RWE leader and our potential for future growth, as we enable our customers to generate regulatory-grade evidence at scale."
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Launched in 2013, Aetion offers a data analytics product called the Aetion Evidence Platform to provide real-world data validated by science. It includes evidence from medical claims and electronic health records (EHRs) rather than simply relying on clinical trials, Magill told Fierce Healthcare when the company was profiled as one of Fierce Healthcare's Fierce 15 award winners.
The company will use the new funds to extend the capabilities of its Aetion Evidence Platform, expand its European and Asian-Pacific footprint, and grow its commercial team in order to serve the growing demand from biopharma, payer and medical device/medical diagnostics customers.
Aetion's evidence platform is used by the majority of the top global biopharma firms, leading payers, and regulatory and HTA agencies to inform decisions on the safety, effectiveness, and value of medical products, according to the company.
Since the company’s inception, it has offered 9,000 treatment effectiveness analyses. In addition, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration now uses the Aetion Evidence Platform as it develops more modern drug approval and safety processes.
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Recently Aetion adapted its AEP platform for the COVID-19 pandemic to help healthcare professionals respond and adapt in real-time as well as gain an understanding of the safety of treatments, diagnostics and vaccines for the coronavirus.
Warburg Pincus is a leading investor in health care and technology, with significant expertise in venture capital and growth investing. Since its inception, the firm has invested in excess of $12 billion and $22 billion into healthcare and technology companies, respectively. Current healthcare and healthcare IT investments include Alignment Healthcare, Experity, Intelligent Medical Objects, Modernizing Medicine, Outset Medical, Qualifacts, Quantum Health, SOC Telemed, Summit Health and WebPT.
“Aetion has shown incredible growth over the last year, scaling its platform and forming industry-leading partnerships. As the use of real-world evidence expands globally, we believe our investment will help advance Aetion’s technology and further inflect its growth,” said T.J. Carella, managing director and head of healthcare at Warburg Pincus.