mClinica raises $6.3m to transform global health data

Photo credit: mClinica.

Singapore-based mClinica today announced it bagged US$6.3 million in series A funding to expand its operations globally.

The round is one of the largest financings for a health tech startup in Southeast Asia, according to Tech in Asia data. It was led by Silicon Valley-based Unitus Impact and joined by London-headquartered Global Innovation Fund, MDI Ventures of Indonesia, and US-based Endeavor Catalyst. Existing investors 500 Startups, IMJ Investment Partners, and Kickstart Ventures also put in some cash.

mClinica’s mobile technology connects drug companies, their distributors, pharmacies, and patients on a common platform. By unifying them, the company’s network collects comprehensive data that allows for the deployment of programs to improve patients’ health outcomes and access to affordable medicine. The company was founded by Farouk Meralli, a Harvard graduate with years of experience working for multinationals Roche, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer under his belt. (Read more on how mClinica works and its early days.)

With a footprint in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia, the company has most of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, more than 5,000 pharmacies, 70 million patients, and billions of data points in its network.

Big data

Farouk Meralli. Photo credit: mClinica.

mClinica plays a huge role in plugging the data gap in the fragmented and multilayered pharmaceutical industry. “Across many developing countries, basic health data is missing. Trillions of dollars are spent by the public and private healthcare sectors and often there is no data to guide the right programming and policy decisions,” states Farouk.

That’s because many drug stores still keep track of inventory the old-fashioned way – manually. mClinica provides them with a system to monitor which products are actually being sold, to whom, and at what volume. It also allows them to enroll patients in health programs within the platform. Those programs help patients better understand their conditions and get discounts on medicine, and remind them to refill when their supply is running low.

The data the company collects is valuable to drug companies that want to have a clear picture of supply and demand, and institutions that want to run patient programs with direct impact on populations at the local level.

For example, in Indonesia, the company’s data showed that 5 percent of patients were prescribed with a combination of medicine that could have caused severe health complications, including renal failure and liver disease. In the Philippines, it discovered that nearly 60 percent of patients with tuberculosis seeking private treatment may not be receiving the best care they need to cure themselves and protect their community. In Vietnam, mClinica’s data detected a double-digit rise in diabetes treatment within a key city in less than a year.

The team collaborates and shares its research with several governments, non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions such as the World Health Organization, USAID, Stanford University, and the University of Oxford.

Bigger footprint

Farouk says they will use the fresh funds to grow their pharmacy network, expand to new markets, and for product development and hiring top talent.

“Our model is well suited to many emerging markets across the world. And while we are focused on Southeast Asia, we have been approached by several partners outside of the region to launch our platforms there,” he says.