Biotech giant Amgen is doubling down on a Durham health data startup with ties to Duke
Amgen, one of the largest biotechnology companies in the world, is doubling down on its investment into a Durham health data startup called NoviSci.
NoviSci, founded by two Duke University professors, builds statistical software that companies use to evaluate the effectiveness of drugs in patients.
One of its main customers is Amgen, the maker of drugs like Enbrel and Neulasta. The California-based biotech company — along with Durham-based investment firm Hatteras Venture Partners — invested $3.5 million into the company last year.
Now Amgen will be plunging more money into NoviSci, after it was acquired this week by fellow Durham-based health data company Target RWE.
NoviSci and Target RWE declined to disclose the financial details of the investment, but they said it will accelerate the growth of the the combined company.
Together, they will be able to provide pharmaceutical companies valuable insights on how their drugs perform in the real world.
Offering additional insights
Most companies study their drugs on a limited number of people during clinical trials, which determine regulatory approvals.
But Target RWE and NoviSci both provide tools to continue the study of their effectiveness in a wider pool of people.
Those level of insights help companies and doctors fine-tune their approaches, improve outcomes and compare differences between patients in different parts of the world.
For example, Target RWE is using its tools to study potential therapies, like remdesivir, for more than 200,000 COVID-19 patients that have been hospitalized.
Target RWE is based in South Durham near Research Triangle Park.
NoviSci, which has around 20 employees, has offices in the American Underground in downtown Durham.
Aaron McKethan, the CEO of NoviSci, said there will be positions at Target RWE for every NoviSci employee.
Importance of health data
McKethan started NoviSci in 2019 after stepping down as the Chief Data Officer for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. Alan Brookhart, a professor at Duke University, and Paul Rowan co-founded the company with him.
Health data is more important than ever, McKethan said in a telephone interview. The success of Target RWE and NoviSci shows that the Triangle is well positioned to take advantage of investments into the field, he said.
The two companies, he said, are primarily made up of Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill graduates — schools that have strong public health programs.
“In the real world of health care, you want to know repeated answers to the same questions,” McKethan said. “You want to be able to deploy sophisticated and rigorous research methods that you would use for a journal article, but you want to be able to adapt them into data sets that refresh regularly.”
That’s what NoviSci can add to Target RWE, he said.
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate
This story was originally published January 15, 2021 at 6:13 PM with the headline "Biotech giant Amgen is doubling down on a Durham health data startup with ties to Duke."
