Accelerating breakthrough therapies by uniting imaging researchers and unifying precision workflows
CHICAGO – Sept. 29, 2022 – First Analysis, a leading venture capital investor, has made a new investment in Yunu, an eClinical solutions company that accelerates breakthrough therapies by unifying clinical trials imaging data and workflows, both within and across cancer centers. First Analysis was the lead investor in the institutional round that will accelerate further development and commercialization of the Yunu platform in expanding its offerings to pharma sponsors.
The workflow at clinical trials sites is not keeping pace with the increasing demands of life sciences R&D efforts and accelerated spending devoted to developing cancer therapeutics. Oncology trials, in particular, rely on medical imaging assessments for 90% of all protocols, with inefficient workflows and incomplete tools driving error rates as high as 30% for site reads. The Yunu platform improves access for a more diverse patient cohort, reduces clinical trial delays, assures protocol compliance, streamlines budgeting and billing, and increases data integrity and quality across thousands of trials simultaneously.
Yunu helps clinical trial stakeholders – patients, healthcare practitioners and trial sponsors – by standardizing imaging processes, workflows, and communication as a pure, cloud-based application. The company's proprietary technology includes exclusive intellectual property which was developed at the Massachusetts General Hospital and became the platform that is home to over 6,000 users managing over 2,500 active clinical trials today. Yunu’s platform also provides subscribers access to a growing range of on-demand trial resources, specialists, and services for supporting the most sophisticated clinical sites, including 10 NCI-designated centers.
“It was incredibly attractive for us to work with an investment team that takes a portfolio approach to eClinical solutions and deeply understands the scope of the problems that have been left unsolved,” said Jeffrey Sorenson, CEO of Yunu. “We are delighted to partner with First Analysis as we further our mission together.”
“We’ve written extensively on the eClinical space and have long understood the pain points trial sites experience in oncology. Our most recent report, Line of "site" to better drug development: Site-centric clinical trial tech, dives deeper into these issues,” said First Analysis Senior Vice President Joe Munda. “We are thrilled to join Yunu’s team and support them at this pivotal moment.”
Tracy Marshbanks and Joe Munda will be joining the Yunu board.
First Analysis is a leading venture capital investor. We have one of the longest records in venture capital, having invested more than $800 million across multiple highly diversified funds over four decades. First Analysis invests mainly in North America with a focus on our sectors of expertise: technology/SaaS, healthcare and environmental technology. We help established companies become profitable leaders in large markets, funding growth plans and working closely with management in areas including strategy, recruitment, sales and marketing and corporate development. Our flexible approach targets investing $3-10 million as lead investor or as a syndicate partner bringing valuable perspective.
Yunu provides medical research technology and services to life sciences companies and clinical research environments that perform precision imaging assessments. Yunu’s aim is to ensure breakthrough therapies are accessible to everyone by unifying medical imaging insights and connecting clinical communities. With thousands of clinical trials relying on the platform each day, Yunu is delivering a new standard of oncology trial management.
Inquiries: press@yunu.io
