First there were digital clocks, then digital computers, and now digital medicines.
Fierce 15 member Proteus Digital Health raised $120 million in its latest round of funding, the company announced June 2. The round of financing consists of "major institutional investors" from the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Proteus makes the Helius tablet. The placebo tablet contains an ingestible nanosensor and is taken alongside medication. The patient wears a patch that interprets the information from Helius and relays it to the company's tablet and mobile phone app, so that the patient and selected caregivers can monitor dosing and physical activity level.
The company is distributing the product on a limited basis in the U.K. and California, according to the San Francisco Business Times. The product won de novo approval from the FDA in 2012.
"Our focus is on partnering with major health systems to deliver solutions that enable consumers and their families to switch on their own healthcare, creating critical information that can be used to ensure they and their doctors make positive decisions about use of medicines and personal health choices. A key part of our success will be to ensure that we have the support of investors as we build this market. The financing we closed is an important demonstration of investor confidence in the growth potential created by IoT [Internet of Things] companies," CEO Andrew Thompson said in a statement.
Proteus also announced two new additions to management. Former Hewlett-Packard exec Steve Fieler will be the CFO and Novartis CFO Jonathan Symonds is joining the Board of Directors. Proteus already has an established relationship with the Big Pharma company. They agreed to collaborate in 2010 and the deal called for Novartis to provide $24 million in funding.
"This technology has the potential to enable Proteus Digital Health and its partners to re-engineer the existing commercial assets of the pharmaceutical industry in order to create high value proprietary products that leverage the drugs they already sell using the mobile phone in every consumer's pocket," Symonds said in a statement.
Proteus says it will use the funds to commercialize digital medicines and demonstrate the benefits of its products. According to clinicaltrials.gov, Proteus has conducted or collaborated on clinical trials to treat diabetes, bipolar disorder, patient compliance, tuberculosis and Schizophrenia.
Proteus had already raised more than $200 million before its most recent haul. Funders included Medtronic ($MDT), Kaiser Permanente, Otsuka and Novartis ($NVS).
- read the release
- read the San Francisco Business Times article
Special Report: FierceMedicalDevices' 2012 Fierce 15 - Proteus Digital Health