Artificial Intelligence, BioPharma

J&J’s investment arm joins $150M investment in digital health firm Verana

Digital health company Verana Health has raised $150 million. The company said it will use the new capital to expand its technology, which is used by physicians and pharmaceutical companies.

Medical full body screening software on tablet and healthcare devices

Verana Health, a company that analyzes real-world patient data to provide insights about drugs, has raised $150 million to fuel an expansion of its technology.

Data from more than 20,000 healthcare providers and 70 electronic health records systems are managed by the San Francisco-based digital health company. The analysis from Verana’s technology, VeraQ, provides information for physicians, who can get a better understanding of a patient’s condition and the best treatment options, and for life science companies that use the data to guide clinical research.

Verana’s pharmaceutical industry partners include Janssen Research & Development, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Nearly a year ago, Verana and Janssen began working together to develop new and better treatments in ophthalmology and urology. The two diseases of focus are diabetic retinopathy and early-stage prostate cancer.

The Series E financing announced Friday deepens Verana’s connections to J&J. The round was led by as led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation—JJDC, which is the pharma giant’s venture capital arm, and Novo Growth. With the new cash, Verana said it plans to expand its strategy across the drug life cycle, enhance the technology’s value to physicians, and add more partnerships with medical societies in order to expand its data footprint. The company also said it will build on its artificial intelligence capabilities, focusing on using natural language processing to extract insights from unstructured text data in EHR notes.

“Verana Health has shown incredible growth in its collaboration with leading pharmaceutical companies and medical societies,” Jeffrey Low, principal at Novo Growth, said in a prepared statement. “The company has assembled a seasoned management team with deep experience in healthcare, science, and business that will continue to expand real-world evidence into multiple therapeutic areas with its unique and powerful health data platform, VeraQ.”

Earlier investors GV, Casdin Capital, and Brook Byers also joined in the latest round of funding. New investors that participated in the financing include the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, THVC, and Breyer Capital.

Photo: ra2studio, Getty Images

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