The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG) and Idea Foundry placed a joint $50,000 early-seed round investment in Clinical Platform, Inc., a Pittsburgh-based, developmental stage, healthcare-IT company whose goal is to improve outcomes of cancer patients by providing easily accessible and retainable information on diagnosis and treatment of cancer and connecting them to appropriate clinical trials.

"Clinical Platform has three main goals," explained Michael Maxin, Chief Executive Officer. "The first is to create awareness among patients, second is to increase patient enrollment in clinical trials, and third is to improve outcomes for cancer patients.

The American Cancer Society estimates 1.7 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed annually, resulting in more than 600,000 deaths in the U.S. – more than 1,650 deaths per day. Cancer remains the second most common cause of death in the U.S.

A major issue is the lack of awareness about clinical trials among patients. According to a Harris Interactive Survey in 2001, about 85% of patients were unaware of clinical trials as treatment options at the time of diagnosis. To this point, no single-entity in the clinical trial ecosystem has existed to own patient recruitment.

Clinical Platform aims to solve this problem by utilizing the power of education to increase patients' awareness about clinical trials and help speed up the process of trial enrollment. Clinical Platform technology is focused on creating two major market trends:

• Empower patients living with cancer to make informed healthcare decisions. Well-informed patients are their own best advocates and invaluable partners for physicians. By providing timely, comprehensive, oncologist-approved information, Clinical Platform's technology can help empower people living with cancer to make informed decisions.
• Increase the ability to select testing choices, to enable change in the diagnostic process for patients and caregivers. Early detection and diagnosis of cancer are crucial and key to improved survival rates. Clinical Platform's technology will be able to capitalize on this ability to help people with diagnostic testing choices. A variety of medical organizations and patient advocacy groups provide guidelines and recommendations for cancer screening, and Clinical Platform's technology will assist people in locating those resources.

"Clinical Platform's technology has the potential to save hospitals, doctors, insurance providers and patients hundreds of millions of dollars in cancer care related costs," said James F. Jordan, President and CEO of PLSG. "This type of innovative approach to a longstanding life sciences issue makes great sense, and we are proud to make this investment, along with our friends at Idea Foundry."

"We agree, noting that through Clinical Platform's ability to efficiently produce and distribute relevant information to cancer patients, their families, and medical professionals, the company has strong potential to maximize its profit margin and create long-term customers and partnerships," added Michael M. Matesic, President & CEO, Idea Foundry, Inc.

The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse: www.plsg.com.