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Medable adds $304M to treasure chest with 4th raise in 18 months for virtual trials

Medable wants to make clinical trials more accessible by decentralizing, or virtualizing, the investigational drug testing process. Expanding access costs money, it appears, as the tech company has now raised an eye-watering $521 million in the past 18 months.

That massive treasure chest of capital includes a whopping $304 million series D, disclosed Tuesday and touted by Jeff Kindler, Pfizer's chairman and CEO in the late 2000s. Kindler, who is now CEO of Centrexion Therapeutics, is a senior adviser at Blackstone, one of Medable's new backers alongside Tiger Global.

The funding tops off a year of multiple funding rounds and the hiring of at least seven C-suite leaders, including Orlando Baeza as chief marketing officer this month and ex-IQVIA and Oracle leader MaryAnne Rizk, Ph.D., as chief strategy officer last month.

“Slow and expensive clinical trials are a major bottleneck in drug development. By investing in the right technology and process improvements, we can make major strides in getting more treatments to patients faster, while still ensuring safety and efficacy," Kindler said in a statement. 

RELATED: Medable focused on diversity, trust and access across drug development process with new executives, funding

The startup says it has worked on more than 150 clinical trials, in both decentralized and hybrid formats, in 60 countries. All told, that includes 1 million patients. 

At a $2.1 billion valuation, Tuesday's money haul gives Medable a sizable lead over many upstarts in the virtual trials push but still doesn't elevate it to public markets status, of which Science 37 joined earlier this month via its Nasdaq debut. It's also $100 million less than the valuation affixed to Reify Health's $220 million series C in August. Science 37's market capitalization on Tuesday stood at about $1.16 billion.

The laundry list of young companies includes the likes of Lightship, Slope, ObvioHealth, Reify Health, Castor and others.

These startups have been quick to snag funding, and the pace should not abate goes the thinking at Medable.

“Patients need the life sciences industry to continue innovating at this pace. By working at the intersection of speed, safety and science, we believe we can meaningfully reduce the barriers to drug development—and ultimately, enable more effective therapies for people all over the world," said Medable CEO and co-founder Michelle Longmire, M.D., in a statement.