1.4 Billion Africans (the most diverse population on earth) are excluded from clinical research studies today because it takes on average 9-12 months to recruit participants and engage with them to take part in these studies. Leading to researchers missing out on huge data that could be generated from studying this population and also exposing us to drugs and vaccines tested on non-African participants.
“Although Africans represent 17% of the global population, Nneka asserts that less than 2% of clinical research is performed in sub-Saharan Africa, despite its disproportionate share in the global disease burden and great genetic diversity.” – Nneka Margaret Handschin, Chief of Clinical Operations & Partnerships, INFIUSS Health.
Infiuss health connects US and EU-based pharma, life science companies and researchers to participants for clinical trials and research in Africa. We are building a decentralized platform to power remote research/clinical trials in Africa, by connecting researchers (in industry and academia) directly to patients, participants for their clinical research studies in under 5days. The healthtech’s all-in-one software helps researchers remotely recruit participants, collect remote consent, collect analyze data and provide virtual support. 20X faster and cheaper than third-party contract research organizations.
Meet the Founder: Melissa Bime
Melissa is the founder of Infiuss health. She is a Registered Nurse, and has got to experience first hand the challenges patients faced across diverse health care settings in Africa. After completing Nursing school, in 2017, Melissa started INFIUSS, a startup that connects life science companies to patients for clinical research and clinical trials in Africa to help ensure that Africa’s Diverse population is included in global research studies and clinical trials. Melissa also won the 2018 Cartier Women’s Initiative Award.
Moreover, Infiuss health was one of the 30 healthtech startups that benefitted from the Bill Gates-backed i3 initiative $7 million fund in 2022.
Healthcap is a proud investor in Infiuss Health because of aligned values. We invest in assets that create a healthier world. Learn more about us here.