Tools4Patient Secures €4 Million in Oversubscribed Series B Funding to Advance Placebell, an AI-Powered Tool for Controlling Placebo Response in Clinical Trials

VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) has learned that on May 16, medical technology company Tools4Patient (T4P) announced the oversubscribed completion of its €4 million (approximately $4.5 million) Series B equity financing round. The round was participated in by existing investors Jean-Pierre Delwart, former CEO of Eurogentec, and Jean Baron Stéphenne, former President of GlaxoSmithKline, as well as new investor Sambrinvest.

Tools4Patient was founded in Belgium in 2013, dedicated to developing analytical tools for both research and clinical applications. With a core focus on optimizing and accelerating therapeutic drug development projects, the company commercializes its technologies through academic approaches. Tools4Patient assists physicians and medical technology companies in determining the optimal treatment plans for patients, thereby improving their quality of life.

The proceeds from this financing round will be used to accelerate the commercialization of Tools4Patient’s first product, Placebell. By controlling for placebo response in randomized clinical trials, Placebell enhances the robustness of clinical trial data, helping medtech companies bring effective therapies to market sooner.

Placebell first integrates the detailed personality traits, disease characteristics, and demographic data of each clinical trial participant into an artificial intelligence-based algorithmic model, which then calculates the Placebell covariate. This covariate is a single value describing each patient’s placebo response and can be used for compliant statistical analyses.

Tools4Patient’s validation study on peripheral neuropathic pain demonstrates that Placebell can effectively distinguish between placebo responders and non-responders. In this patient population, it reduced statistical variance by 30%.

Tools4Patient and biopharmaceutical companies are leveraging Placebell to conduct clinical trials for inflammation, osteoarthritis, central nervous system disorders, and other chronic pain conditions. Given the versatility of Placebell and the significance of high placebo response rates in therapeutic areas, Tools4Patient plans to expand its product portfolio into neurology, psychiatry, dermatology, ophthalmology, and women’s health.

Dr. Dominique Demolle, CEO of Tools4Patient, stated: “The placebo response is one of the most common and complex challenges in clinical development. We have been fortunate to address this issue and have designed a technology applicable to a broad range of clinical trials. We will continue to expand the Placebell product portfolio to deliver needed therapies to patients more rapidly.”

François Cornelis, Chairman of the Innovation Fund, stated: “Tools4Patient addresses critical challenges in clinical research, alleviating the cost burden for the pharmaceutical industry and society at large. We are confident in the future of Tools4Patient.”

Jean Pierre Delwart graduated from the Université Libre de Bruxelles with a degree in Economics. In 1993, Jean Pierre Delwart became the CEO of Eurogentec. The biotechnology company Eurogentec was founded in Belgium in 1985, primarily providing reagents, kits, specialty products, and customs services for the life sciences research, diagnostics, and pharmaceutical markets.

Jean Stéphenne is a Belgian businessman. He joined GlaxoSmithKline in 1974 as the head of bacterial and viral vaccine production. Since 1998, Jean Stéphenne has served as President and General Manager of GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals.

Sambrinvest is a Belgium-based venture capital firm that invests in companies at various stages of development. The firm has currently invested in more than 200 companies and possesses extensive experience in financing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

(Compiled by: Li Chengping)