Circuit Clinical passed a startup milestone recently when it hired its 100th employee.
The Buffalo-based clinical trials startup raised $29 million earlier this year to accelerate the development of its business, and it has worked since to populate the leadership team with veterans of the IT and medical industries.
Circuit Clinical is built around the premise of “decentralizing clinical trials,” helping to offer them through local physicians offices. The plan requires a balance between pharmaceutical companies, physicians and patients.
The hiring milestone “reflects the continuation of our plan,” CEO and M.D. Irfan Khan said. “We’re a team that has become very metrics-based and delivery-focused.”
Circuit Clinical is based in the 43North incubator in Seneca One Tower and is the largest team in the space. One of the other fast-growing teams in the 43North incubator, Kangarootime, recently signed a lease with Ellicott Development to move its headquarters to a building on Ohio Street facing the Buffalo River.
Khan said there is nothing imminent on the real estate front at Circuit Clinical but that a long-term decision on a local headquarters is on the company's radar.
“We know that at some point we need to make a commitment,” he said. “We’re looking at all our options now.”
One of the newly hired employees is the focus of a lawsuit by life sciences giant Iqvia, which filed a complaint earlier this month against Circuit Clinical over the hiring of a former employee, according to the Triangle Business Journal, a Business First sister publication. Dana Edwards was vice president of global sales at Iqvia when she was hired last year as Circuit Clinical’s chief commercial officer.
Specifically, Iqvia says that Edwards breached an agreement not to unfairly compete against the company, solicit its customers or misappropriate its confidential information and trade secrets, according to the Triangle Business Journal.
"The relatively greater scale of Iqvia's clinical trial technology business vis-à-vis Circuit Clinical does not mean that it is not an Iqvia competitor," the lawsuit states.
Circuit Clinical had no comment on the matter.
The company did issue a news release recently announcing a partnership with a major physician network in the Philadelphia region, Pottstown Medical Specialists. The deal will see Circuit Clinical bring clinical research options to more than 180,000 residents across two counties. The clinical trials themselves will be provided by global life sciences firm Labcorp, a Circuit Clinical investor and strategic partner.
Khan said it’s an example of how Circuit is working with Labcorp and another corporate partner/investor, Medidata.
“Our combined research capabilities allow entry to research and reduce the burden of participation for all, including the physicians conducting the research," Khan stated. Later, he added, “Through embedded staffing, clinical trial opportunities and training programs, we're making it easier for doctors to provide research as a care option right in their home offices."
