Reify Health Raises $220 Million to Improve Diversity in Clinical Trials

Reify Health has raised $220 million in a Series D funding round. The funding round, which brings the company’s valuation to over $4.8 billion, was secured to accelerate the company’s efforts to improve diversity and representation in clinical trial participation.

Certain minority communities have been heavily underrepresented in clinical trials, which presents a significant health equity issue. Treatments can work differently for different races and ethnicities. Those differences should be understood in the controlled setting of a clinical trial first, not in day-to-day healthcare after the medicine is made available to the public. Over the last several years, key stakeholders that include the FDA, biopharmaceutical companies, medical research institutions, and non-profit organizations have initiated efforts to increase diversity in clinical trial participation. However, meaningful progress has been slow to come.

To contribute to this effort, Reify Health is launching BRIDGE (Bringing Representation, Inclusion, and Diversity to Global Enrollment), an initiative aimed at devoting the company’s capabilities in partnership with like-minded organizations to achieve two primary objectives:

1) build a robust understanding, both qualitative and quantitative, of the barriers to underrepresented minority groups participating in clinical trials; and 2) deliver solutions that overcome these barriers so clinical trials are more representative of the patient populations they aim to treat. (Source: Reify Health Website, 21 April, 2022)