Protas receives grant from venture capital firm GV
The £5m grant recognises Protas’ unique ability to deliver better clinical trials at a fraction of the current cost and will enable the organisation to further grow its capacity to design and deliver large, randomised clinical trials for common and other life-threatening diseases.
Over a third of GV’s investments are in the life sciences sector, supporting companies that seek to improve lives and patient outcomes. The grant funding to Protas underscores GV’s commitment to life sciences innovation in Europe.
Protas is led by the epidemiologist and physician, Professor Sir Martin Landray, who has over 20 years’ experience of leading large, randomised clinical trials as part of a team at Oxford University’s Nuffield Department of Population Health.
Most recently, he has been leading the landmark RECOVERY clinical trial into treatments for COVID-19 which identified that treatment with the inexpensive steroid drug, dexamethasone, improved the chances of survival for the most severe cases.
Professor Sir Martin Landray, Chief Executive of Protas, said: “We are incredibly grateful for GV’s generous grant which is a huge endorsement of our work and reinforces the importance of Protas’ mission.
The cost of clinical trials of new treatments for common diseases is extraordinarily high, meaning that many new drugs are never taken forward and never reach patients as the commercial risk is too high.
Our mission to improve patient outcomes is aligned with GV’s and with this grant, Protas will be able to strengthen its capabilities and deliver large-scale trials at a fraction of the cost of current trials, so that more treatments can be discovered for common diseases.”
“As part of our ongoing commitment to life sciences innovation, we’re thrilled to support Protas as they work towards greater efficiency in clinical trials for common diseases,” said Dr. David Schenkein, General Partner at GV.
“GV seeks to invest in breakthrough innovations that move clinical trials forward to benefit patients, and Protas is doing foundational research in this area.”
Protas will combine smart randomised trial design with effective technology and a collaborative approach, aiming to encourage the development of better treatments for conditions which affect a large proportion of the population and place huge pressure on the health services that support them and on wider society.
It will do this at a fraction of the cost of current trials, by minimising complexity and designing trials that focus on the elements that matter most to the participants in the trial and to those future patients whose care will be impacted by the results.
Protas will also use an integrated technology system to support the safe, trustworthy and efficient use of data to deliver its trials and generate the evidence needed to bring treatments to patients.