Billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel has invested in London-based startup Lindus Health.
Lindus Health deliver end-to-end clinical trials for the healthtech and biotech sectors.
The company has so far raised £5m ($6m) from investors including from Thiel, who was the co-founder of PayPal and the first outside investor of Facebook.
Lindus Health has also received an Innovate UK Smart grant worth almost half a million pounds.
The company is kicking off ground-breaking trials run to find innovative treatments for conditions including tinnitus, insomnia and progressive childhood short-sightedness.
Using their technology platform and machine learning to manage trials from start to finish in an industry first, Lindus Health’s pioneering technology speeds up the time it takes to approve treatments and get them to market, with their trials to date having been completed three times more quickly than the old-fashioned industry standard.
Having already delivered more than 80 trials for treatments across the US, UK and Europe, Lindus Health is next working with the global healthcare company Pharmanovia to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a treatment for patients with severe insomnia in a real-world setting – using digital technology to find hard-to-reach insomnia patients.
They will be working with Oto to run a trial for 200 people, evaluating their digital tinnitus solution against in-person therapy.
They are also partnering with Berlin-based start-up Dopavision to trial the MyopiaX treatment for children affected by progressive short sightedness. This aims to increase dopamine levels in the retina to slow the progression of the condition.
This year, Lindus Health is also launching a trial aimed at treating and reversing Type 2 Diabetes with George Medicines and a trial aimed at reducing symptoms of menopause, with US-based Bonafide Health.
Launched in 2021 by Michael Young and Meri Beckwith, Lindus Health has already worked with 20,000 patients to find new treatments for chronic conditions.
Young said: “Clinical trials are the biggest bottleneck to improving human health. We’re working with high-growth companies developing the next wave of breakthrough treatments to accelerate the clinical trials process.
“It’s fantastic to be working with the Government and industry pioneers to revolutionise clinical trials to deliver treatments to benefit patients more quickly.
“From monitoring trial data in real time to using machine learning to predict trial outcomes and make improvements to trial designs in advance, we want to simplify and accelerate the trials process and put patients first.”
Other investors include Firstminute Capital, Presight Capital, Seedcamp, Hambro Perks, Amino Collective and Calm/Storm.