Unlearn – an AI company creating digital twins of clinical trial participants that enable smaller and faster studies – announced a $50 million Series C round led by Altimeter Capital, joined by returning investors Radical Ventures, Wittington Ventures, Mubadala Capital, Epic Ventures, and Necessary Venture Capital. This funding round was secured to propel the company’s goal to advance AI to eliminate trial and error in medicine by investing in its people, data, engineering capabilities, and longer-term R&D initiatives.
Launched in 2017 as an AI research company, Unlearn has always been at the forefront of developing innovative AI-based solutions for clinical trials. And now, seven years later, with over $130 million raised, Unlearn’s technology addresses key clinical research challenges like long timelines, slow enrollment, and patients’ reluctance to participate over potentially receiving a placebo.
Unlearn’s AI models generate an individual digital twin for every trial participant before they are randomized into the experimental or control arm and the participant’s digital twin forecasts their health outcomes under placebo regardless of their actual assignment. And digital twins enable TwinRCTs highly powered clinical trials with smaller control groups, allowing more patients to receive experimental treatment. The TwinRCTs reduce the time it takes to market new drugs and therapies, ultimately paving the way for improved health outcomes for all.
In the last decade, the clinical research industry has seen the introduction of advanced solutions to solve its most pressing problems – lack of diversity, years-long timelines from discovery to development, and increasing costs. But working within regulatory constraints continues to create obstacles and limit progress. With this, Unlearn has partnered with regulatory experts since its founding and now has a qualification from the European Medicines Agency for use as the primary analysis in phase 2 and 3 clinical trials with continuous outcomes as well as agreement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that the methodology does not deviate from current guidance.
With this funding round, Altimeter joins existing investors included in the round – Radical Ventures, Wittington Ventures, Mubadala Capital, Epic Ventures, Necessary Venture Capital – as well as Insight Partners, 8VC, DCVC, and DCVC Bio. And Unlearn partners with pharma sponsors, biotech companies, and academic institutions to streamline and optimize clinical trials, enabling researchers to assess the safety and efficacy of new treatments more quickly and accurately.
KEY QUOTES:
“Pharmaceutical companies are spending over $100 billion dollars a year on clinical research, yet the industry remains skeptical about new technology that has the power to truly transform research. Breaking down these barriers and proving the value of digital twin technology continues to be a main driver for us at Unlearn. And, this round of financing will allow us to not only grow our team but also expand our capabilities into more therapeutic areas to build awareness and prove the value.”
– Charles Fisher, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Unlearn
“Unlearn is introducing powerful AI models to help make clinical research more streamlined and efficient. We’re excited to be a part of their journey to seek to reduce the number of participants needed for research, ultimately with hopes of reducing costs and improving outcomes for partners in the pharmaceutical industry.”
– Pauline Yang, Partner at Altimeter Capital
“Unlearn has built one of the most original and impactful applications of AI in the market today. The company’s platform is transforming clinical trials, using cutting-edge AI to help bring life-changing therapeutics to patients sooner.”
– Rob Toews, Partner at Radical Ventures
