September 26, 2017 | September was full of exciting news in the clinical trial and healthcare community, including partnerships, products, and promotions from Rho, Bracket, Hearst, and more.

Hearst announced an equity investment in M2Gen one of the top comprehensive cancer centers in the United States. This partnership will help accelerate the discovery of innovative cancer therapies and improve care for patients nationwide. The collaboration will provide funding to expand the efforts of the nation’s first major data sharing network among leading cancer institutions. Press release

Rho announced it has plans to hire an additional 40 more team members as part of its growth expansion strategy in 2017. The open positions at Rho range from entry-level research associate or administrative assistant positions to seasoned professionals, including clinical research associates (CRAs) and senior. project managers.  The Chapel Hill-based CRO is also looking to fill more senior positions such as research scientists and a vice president of operations. Press release

Congenica announced a new customer partnership with the Coimbra Paediatric Hospital (CPH). Through this partnership, the hospital has licensed Congenica’s Sapientia software platform to perform analysis of whole-exome sequencing data and produce diagnostic reports for its In2Genome project. The €1.2 million ($1.4 million) project funded by Portugal2020, Compete 2020, and European Structural and Investment, aims to revolutionize the diagnosis of rare genetic diseases through insights gained from population-wide genomic data. Initiated by The Medical Genetics Unit of CHUC, which is housed in CPH, the In2Genome project is a multidisciplinary consortium collaborating with Portuguese companies Coimbra Genomics and Genoinseq by Biocant. The project, which commenced in July 2017, is expected to run for two years. Press release

Marketware announced the close of $4.5 million Series B led by EPIC Ventures, and the appointment of Alex Obbard as the company’s CEO. Obbard brings more than 25 years’ experience in all areas of revenue and profit generation for technology organizations, with significant experience driving SaaS-based sales growth. Most recently, Obbard served as SVP of Sales at Solutionreach, the leader in patient relationship management with over 100,000 healthcare professionals and approximately 25,000 practices. “Not only does Alex have the relevant market experience and a track-record of growth but he has a contagious confidence,” said Nick Efstratis, Managing Director with EPIC Ventures, in a press release. “I have always enjoyed working with Marketware for their commitment to succeed and Alex’s placement as CEO will only continue to fuel the company's momentum.” Obbard commented, “I’m excited and grateful for this opportunity. The Marketware team has accomplished so much, so quickly, establishing our solutions as the industry’s best physician relationship management and analytics platform. Our technology, positioning and people are unmatched and these funds will help launch us into the next stage of our development. The appointment comes at a momentous time as Marketware has also closed on a $4.5 million growth round of capital. This round of funding was led by EPIC Ventures with participation from Peak Ventures. EPIC maintains two seats on Marketware’s board of directors, signaling their strong commitment to building a world-class team and company. Press release

Bracket today welcomed Sam Whitaker as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to its growing team. Whitaker joins Bracket’s leadership team bringing ten years of experience in clinical technology and global infrastructure innovation to the Company. Whitaker will be responsible for Bracket’s global product strategy, management and innovation, technology development and engineering including architecture, user experience (UX), user interface (UI) and IT support functions. Whitaker will leverage his ten years’ experience as co-founder and CEO of Greenphire, the first clinical technology to bring payment technology to the clinical environment. During his tenure at Greenphire, Whitaker invented and successfully commercialized the first clinical trial payment technologies. The web-based applications were built on top of a global technology infrastructure, which he and his team designed to support the unique needs of sponsors, clinical research organizations (CROs), and sites and scaled to support more than 500 clients globally. Press release

Bracket also introduced Amir Kalali as its Executive Advisor for Global Strategy. Kalali joins Bracket as a recognized leader in drug development methodology and technological innovation. Kalali will work with Bracket's leadership to help identify innovative technologies to support the evolution of its integrated growth. In addition, Kalali will assist in the acceleration of growth in Bracket's CNS product lines in other fields of medicine. Previously, Kalali was Global Head of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at Quintiles, where he was responsible for the enterprise-wide strategy for neuroscience, encompassing drug development and healthcare services. Press release

mProve Health and Greenphire announced a partnership to provide patients with real-time access to ClinCard payment details via mProve’s engagement app, mPal. mPal is a robust, regulatory-compliant mobile solution for patients to receive study appointment and medication reminders, access their study visit schedule, documents, research site, and education materials, among other services such as the ability to request a lab courier pickup. Through this exclusive partnership, clinical trial participants who are receiving payments or reimbursements via the most widely accepted and adopted participant payment solution, ClinCard, can have real-time access to their balance and payment history directly through mPal. Adding ClinCard capabilities to the mPal app creates a single, mobile touchpoint for patients to access their study services, eliminating the need to use different systems. The combined solution will improve patients’ clinical trial experience and make it easier for them to fulfill study commitments. Press release