A UK COMPANY which offers an innovative solution to recruit and retain global participants for medicine clinical trials has secured an investment of more than £250,000 from a group of investors.

Tomorrows Medicines Limited, based at Daresbury Sci-Tech, Cheshire has secured £100,500 from The North West Fund for Biomedical, managed by SPARK Impact, another £100,500 from private investors and £50,000 from the Technology Strategy Board. 

Tomorrows Medicines has developed an interactive web platform called YourTreatmentChoices.com where patients can find and join local clinical trials.  It also services global pharmaceutical, biotech, diagnostic, academic and other research organisation study teams in recruiting and retaining trial participants. 

Delays in patient recruitment can lead to a delay in bringing new medicines to market. In the UK, issues with patient recruitment mean that 40 per cent of trials do not complete at all. 

The funding will be used by Tomorrow Medicines to commercialise the YourTreatmentChoices.com platform and service. So far, the website has helped patients in 78 countries to find approved clinical trials in their local area. 

Dr Clare Nolan, CEO of Tomorrows Medicines Limited said: ”We are delighted to receive the funding from the three parties and to receive recognition that the company provides an important service offering. It will enable us to provide a fully-supported service to global pharmaceutical, biotech and diagnostic companies looking to accelerate patient recruitment across all clinical areas. The clinical trial recruitment process is critical for the discovery of much-needed medical treatments and we can now make this process simpler, faster and more accessible.” 

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Dr Penny Attridge, senior investment director at SPARK Impact and manager of The North West Fund for Biomedical, said: “From day one we could see the potential in Tomorrows Medicines’ novel, interactive platform for patient recruitment and retention services. Clinical research offers exciting drug discovery opportunities and we hope the investments will make a real difference to continue to grow the company.” 

Melanie Yeomans, corporate finance partner at the Manchester office of law firm Ward Hadaway, who advised SPARK on the investment, said: "We were delighted to advise SPARK on its investment in Tomorrows Medicines.

"The company's processes for the matching of patients to relevant medical trials have clearly exciting and far-reaching potential in both the development of new drugs and the successful treatment of patients for whom existing drug therapies have proved unsuccessful." 

Tomorrow Medicines Limited is The North West Fund for Biomedical’s 60th investment to date and the 40th company to be supported by the Fund. The North West Fund for Biomedical is part of the wider North West Fund, financed jointly by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank.

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