HealthTech startup Healx has raked in funding worth £1.5 million in Series A round from Amadeus Capital and Jonathan Milner, a healthcare entrepreneur.
The Cambridge-based firm uses machine learning and advanced data analytics, and seeks to find new uses for existing drugs in an attempt to combat rare diseases. Healx’s technology platform uses its machine learning base to match potential treatments to rare conditions and patients. The company aims to complete its drug repurposing studies within six months.
In a statement, Hermann Hauser, partner and co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners, said,
Healx has taken advances in machine learning, data mining and analytics and combined them with deep pharma and life sciences expertise to address a growing need in the healthcare sector. With huge pressure on R&D budgets, drug repositioning will be essential in the fight against rare diseases.
Healx has a scalable technology platform which allows it to match potential treatments to rare conditions and patients. It has secured contracts from a number of major medical foundations in the US and Europe to find drug candidates with conditions including Barth syndrome and Fragile-X.
The raised funds will help the company accelerate the its development as it aims to capitalise on the growing drug repurposing sector, which is predicted to hit more than $31bn by 2020. By doing so, Healx hopes that by the end of it, finding treatments for more illnesses will become possible. This is an important development for the HealthTech sector, one that will go a long way in revolutionizing medicine.
Tim Guilliams, founder & CEO at Healx, commented,
Studies into rare medical conditions have long failed to receive adequate funding.By repurposing existing drugs to combat rare diseases, Healx is able to find potential treatments at a fraction of the cost and in a much shorter time frame than developing a new drug.
