Company name: Greenphire.
Location: King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
Industry: health IT/pharmaceuticals.
Solution/product: The clinical trial universe is notorious for payment delays of up to 120 days. One reason is much of the payment systems are done on spreadsheets in a manual process more vulnerable to human error. Greenphire’s eclinicalGPS system is intended to streamline the flow of payments to reduce the time it takes to make them. It calculates, automates and tracks the flow of payment to the clinical trial site. It also creates data transparency and allows that data to be used for strategic analytics, according to its website.
Its ClinCard system addresses the complexities of reimbursing participants in a clinical trial whose identities need to be anonymous. It delivers payment through electronic transfer to a debit card or directly to a patient’s bank account through an automatically generated electronic check. Among the 200 companies and institutions using its products are Pfizer and universities such as University of Southern California, Dartmouth College, the University of Kansas and the University of Cincinnati.
Money raised: $4.3 million.
How it will be used: In an interview over the summer, CEO Samuel Whitaker said Greenphire’s goal is to extend the platform to enable the sponsor to manage vendor payments and eventually a portal to handle all of the financial aspects of a clinical research study.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Investors: First Mark Capital, which led a $1.5 million series A financing round for the company last year.
Management team: Whitaker, CEO and co-founder, previously worked in transactional finance. Prior to Greenphire, he was vice president of Citigroup’s product development unit within the bank’s prepaid card division, where he developed new payment solutions for new and existing clients. John Samar, the chief financial officer, previously worked with Whitaker at Citigroup. Chief operating officer Amanda Hettinger previously served as an implementation manager for sales and marketing operations at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.
Market opportunity: Another company in the clinical trial electronic payment space is Raleigh, North Carolina company Clinverse. In an interview with MedCity News earlier this year, Clinverse CEO Tim Immel said that of the estimated $70 billion market for paying service providers to conduct clinical trials $14 billion represents payments to investigators.
