The acquisition to unlock trust in the industry more quickly

THE CHOICE OF EXIT FOR PATCHAI, THE STARTUP COFOUNDED BY BOCCONI ALUMNUS ALESSANDRO MONTEROSSO

Entering a niche sector, a highly regulated on and with public opinion attentive to all its development, is not an easy thing to do. First of all, you need to win the trust of the market and so Patchai is doing, an Italian startup born in 2018 which specializes in digital health and since mid-November 2021 has become part of the American multinational Alira Health, which has accumulated 20 years of experience serving customers globally. "The acquisition helps us unlock trust in the industry more quickly", confirms Alessandro Monterosso, Bocconi alumnus and co-founder and CEO of Patchai. "In addition, joining Alira Health allows us to further develop our intelligent digital platforms, designed to improve patient engagement in clinical research and to increase the overall efficiency of the research process. All this by providing real-time results on the patients' health conditions". The operation by Alira Health began to take shape as Patchai was about to conclude the latest round of funding. But the added value of the US group's offer was, again according to Monterosso, to be able to access a major legacy of acquired multidisciplinary experiences and skills.

"The vision of both companies also converges in putting the patient at the center", continues the CEO of Patchai, which has developed an empathic virtual assistant for patients who participate in decentralized clinical trials or are following a standard care path. The objective is to stimulate their involvement through dialogue with a virtual assistant capable of adapting to the human person with whom it interacts. Patchai's objectives include progressively reducing the dropout rate among patients, who by leaving the trial slow down the conclusion of clinical research, constituting a hurdle to scientific advancement but also a form of economic damage. Without forgetting that Covid-19 has worsened the situation by increasing dropouts and delaying studies to the point that data becomes obsolete, in certain cases. The result was that 77% of research studies were suspended or suffered significant postponement, while 47% displayed the urgency to evolve to a virtual situation.

“Remote interaction is and will remain in the future a way of thinking and organizing clinical research”, remembers Monterosso. "The pandemic has accentuated the trend that makes our services increasingly essential, especially if face-to-face visits are interrupted." In 2020, Patchai saw its workforce jump from 15 to 35. With the acquisition, both the founders’ team and existing employees move under the wing of the US parent company. Patchai's clients include pharma companies Novartis and Roche. The next step will be "inserting our app-mediated virtual assistant within more complete packages, which include the services previously guaranteed by external partners and now offered by Alira Health", concludes Monterosso.
 
Biography
Alessandro Monterosso began his career as a clinical research nurse at the University of Padua. He then specialized in clinical research at the University of Trieste, obtained a Master in International Healthcare, Economics and Policy from SDA Bocconi School of Management, and subsequently a Master in Leadership & Innovation from the MIT. “SDA Bocconi enabled me to actually express the school's vision: empowering lives through knowledge and imagination”, remembers Monterosso. “It was an intense journey through which I constantly challenged myself by getting out of my comfort zone and pushing myself beyond the limits”.

by Camillo Papini