physIQ closes $8M round to advance beyond the pill tech and support development for ACOs

Originally published in MedCityNews

physIQ has raised $8 million in a Series B round to expand the customer base for a digital health platform to support clinical trials. The Chicago-based company applies machine learning to data collected from wearables and implantable devices to generate insights about clinical trial participants.

By creating a unique baseline for patients, for pharma and medical device companies VitalLink is intended to better quantify the impact of drug and medical device companies’ treatments. The business seeks to set itself apart from rival companies that generate a set of metrics typical of male and female patients with certain conditions at certain ages.

[Full disclosure: physIQ won the digital health track at the MedCity INVEST pitch contest in 2016.]

The digital health business also plans to invest in commercializing a VitalLink product geared to risk-bearing healthcare entities, such as accountable care organizations, to support earlier intervention and reduced hospitalization costs.

4490 Ventures led the Series B and was joined by Global Health Sciences  Fund through Quark Venture Inc., GF Securities, and existing investor LionBird, among others. Dan Malven, 4490 Ventures managing partner, joined the board of directors.

IRB studies involving 100 patients in four locations underway by the veterans administration would produce some interesting results in the second half of the year for an application supporting risk-bearing entities’ efforts to track at-risk patients for earlier intervention if needed. Stephen Ondra, who joined physIQ earlier this year as chief medical officer, is helping to oversee the studies.

VitalLink collects continuous physiological patient data from wearable and implantable sensors and uses artificial intelligence to gain personalized patients from the data.

In a phone interview, physIQ CEO and Founder Gary Conkright said since its product hit the market last year, the company has inked contracts with two pharma companies and two medical device businesses.

“There is intense interest by these companies to get through a clinical trial faster with better and higher fidelity data,” Conkright said.

 He noted that the company currently employs 19 employees but hopes to be at 25 by the end of the year. The business is looking for six more staff in software programming, data science, and sales and marketing.

“We have more demand than we can service currently  — it’s a good problem to have but it’s a problem we have to solve so we can respond to the market need.”

The digital health company also plans to use the funding for additional FDA submissions in the quest to bring more functionality and deepen product claims.