Science 37 had a good year in 2020, using its hybrid trial approach to help companies navigate their way through a pandemic; it’s now hoping to top 2020 with a major public listing in 2021.
Like so many life science companies of late, Science 37 is tapping the craze of a special purpose acquisition company to help it, specifically penning a merger with LifeSci Acquisition II Corp.
The offering see its valued at just over $1 billion, and has $250 million to fund its decentralized trial tech platform, and “extend into new adjacencies, and power the next generation in clinical research,” according to its statement.
Science 37 and is expected to be listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “SNCE.” This comes after growing funding rounds throughout the past year and collabs with the likes of PPD and Syneos, as more CROs and biopharmas seek a virtual trial system now and for the future.
That deal comes with $200 million through a an upsized PIPE from a bunch of investors, including: Redmile Group; funds and accounts managed by BlackRock; Casdin Capital; dRx Capital (Novartis Pharma); LifeSci Venture Partners; Lux Capital; Mubadala Capital, the asset management arm of Mubadala Investment Company; Perceptive Advisors; PPD; Pura Vida Investments; RS Investments; RTW Investments, LP; Samsara BioCapital; and Surveyor Capital.
This also includes up to $125 million of additional performance-based equity consideration. The company added that Science 37 shareholders “will retain their equity holdings.”
In addition, the trial specialist said it will now also look to establish a “Diversity in Clinical Research Foundation,” to make clinical trial research “more accessible to underserved patient populations.”
“The clinical research industry is undergoing a dramatic transformation in which traditional development methods are being supplanted by technology fueled innovation,” said David Coman, CEO of Science 37.
“Our clinical trial Operating System (OS) can enable significantly faster enrollment, retain patients at a meaningfully higher rate, and achieve higher enrollment among diverse patient populations. With this investment, we expect to advance our OS to further penetrate adjacent markets, and power the future of clinical research where we bridge between the traditional and decentralized approaches to enable a truly Agile Clinical Trial.”