A local medical company - that was on the verge of moving to Denver - has decided to stay and expand in Buffalo. The company was a semi-finalist in this year's 43North business plan competition.
Circuit Clinical is the latest company to participate in the START-UP NY incentive program through the University at Buffalo - which now sponsors 77 companies.
Under the deal, UB's Buffalo Institute for Genomics & Data Analytics will invest $1.1 million to help Circuit Clinical expand.
Company founder, and Chief Medical Officer, Irfan Khan, a South Buffalo cardiologist, says the goal over the next five years is to create just over 100 new jobs.
"We're trying to create the jobs that the graduates of UB, and the other great schools in the region, will be looking for when they're deciding whether they stay in Buffalo or leave the region. So we're talking jobs in software. In design and implementation. We're talking jobs in the nursing field, research assistants, things like that. These are great jobs you can build a family around," Khan said.
Circuit Clinical uses technology to simplify the enrollment process for patients interested in taking part in clinical studies. And the company's software allows patients to review research choices in the convenience of the local doctor's office that "they know and trust." Khan says, completing studies is the number one problem in clinical research today.
"The challenge of bringing new medicines to market is that half the studies we do fail because they can't find the right number of patients for these studies. Or the patients who enter, become disheartened, and drop out. So our goal is to create an engine that can find the right patients for those studies and then engage them in a way that keeps them involved until the very end. To lower the cost of developing medicines," Khan said.
The state's investment and partnership will also enable UB to tap Circuit Clinical's capabilities to support UB's clinical trials.
