A newly announced acquisition could have a big impact on how clinical trials are conducted, particularly in community oncology settings. Paradigm Health, a relatively young company founded in 2021, is acquiring Flatiron Health’s clinical research business, which includes an extensive tech-enabled U.S. oncology research network and a suite of clinical research solutions.
Flatiron has built up an oncology-focused EHR network and a de-identified database with more than 4 million patient records. More than 1,000 research publications have used its EHR-derived real-world data.
Through this transaction for an undisclosed sum, Paradigm Health will expand its network to include more than 25 academic medical centers and health systems, as well as access to nearly 100 community oncology practices nationwide, reaching over 2.4 million patients across the United States.
Paradigm, which was incubated by ARCH Venture Partners to address inequities in patient access to clinical research, describes this as an acquisition but also as a multi-year collaboration between the two organizations to maximize the benefits for providers, sponsors, and patients. It said the long-term collaboration will integrate Flatiron’s established clinical research solutions and site network with Paradigm Health’s end-to-end technology platform, enabling more patients to access clinical trials, without adding costly infrastructure.
Paradigm’s AI-enabled infrastructure automates patient matching and site feasibility, and has helped health systems accrue to trials four times faster while reducing provider burden and accelerating timelines for biopharma sponsors. Paradigm Health also recently launched a Trial Design Service to enable sponsors to design and execute interventional and pragmatic trials embedded directly into routine care.
The two organizations will work to integrate Paradigm Health’s solutions into Flatiron’s OncoEMR and deploy new capabilities. OncoEMR is an electronic health record for community oncology. Over 4,500 providers across the Flatiron network of 1,000 community-based cancer care locations use OncoEMR for patient care and practice operations.
Founded in 2012, Flatiron is an independent affiliate of the Roche Group. It collaborates with partners in academic institutions, policy groups, regulators, and biopharmaceutical companies. In November 2024, Healthcare Innovation interviewed Neal Meropol, M.D., Flatiron’s vice president of research oncology.
Paradigm Health will provide clinical research support to all Flatiron Health OncoEMR customers and Flatiron’s existing clinical research partner academic medical centers and health systems.
“This partnership brings together the strengths of both organizations," said Nathan Hubbard, Flatiron Health CEO, in a statement. “By combining Paradigm Health’s AI-powered trial infrastructure with Flatiron’s trusted network and support across academic and community oncology sites, we’re building a stronger, more connected ecosystem for clinical research - expanding capabilities, accelerating impact and advancing our shared mission to bring new treatments to patients faster.”
Paradigm said the transaction also strengthens its relationships with the biopharma industry. The combined network enables Paradigm Health to serve 15 of the top 20 global biopharma companies and adds capacity to run pragmatically designed Phase IV clinical trials embedded into routine care, increasing the speed of post-market approval evidence generation.
Paradigm Health also announced an oversubscribed $78 million Series B financing. The round was led by ARCH Venture Partners, with participation from new investor DFJ Growth and existing investors F-Prime, General Catalyst, GV, Lux Capital, Mubadala Capital, the American Cancer Society’s BrightEdge Fund, and others.
