Two Chicago-based firms, Water Street Healthcare Partners and JLL Partners, have reached a deal to acquire THREAD, a technology provider that enables virtual research approaches to modernize clinical studies and registries. The Orange County, California-based company is expected to leverage the investment to accelerate the expansion of its global offering.
THREAD's platform and services are designed to make clinical trials and registries more accessible and less costly by replacing patient visits at investigator sites with technology-enabled interactions at more convenient locations, including patients' homes. Growing numbers of biopharma, life science companies, contract research organizations (CROs), and nonprofit researchers are engaging THREAD's virtual research platform to capture clinical study data in between, as well as during or instead of clinic visits.
The company's platform supports an integrated suite of user-friendly, highly configurable applications that support eConsent, ePRO/eCOA, patient engagement, telehealth virtual visits, site data capture, and medical device and consumer sensor connection.
"JLL and Water Street are the ideal partners for THREAD to accelerate our strategic expansion and solutions to our customers. Their life science expertise and resources will enable us to grow in a thoughtful way that will benefit all of our customers," THREAD FOUNDER and CEO Jeff Frazier said in a statement.
Water Street and JLL plan to invest their combined industry experience and network of resources to further develop and expand THREAD's offering on a global scale. With this support, THREAD expects to extend its platform to offer customers a broader range of options that can be configured to address their individual needs by engaging components of its technology as standalone point solutions or activating its full suite of capabilities.
"THREAD's platform is highly valued for its user-centric design, flexibility, ease of use, and broad functionality,” said newly appointed THREAD Executive Chairman Mark A. Goldberg, M.D. in a statement. “Working together with our customers, we have the exciting opportunity to advance the next generation of clinical trials to accelerate product development and innovation."
THREAD's leadership team will continue to spearhead the company's day-to-day operations, and report to Goldberg. Financial terms of Water Street and JLL's investment are not being disclosed.
