Acurian , Inc.

ATLANTA -(Dow Jones)- Acurian Inc., a closely held firm that recruits patients and doctors for participation in clinical drug trials, is set to announce Wednesday it has closed $27 million in financing from venture capital firms to focus on Internet recruiting. Participants in the second-round financing, led by Euclid SR Partners, a New York information and health-care technology investment firm, include Merck Capital Ventures LLC, the new Internet health fund created by pharmaceutical maker Merck & Co. (MRK). Acurian represents the $100 million Merck fund's first investment. As advances in biotechnology lead to the development of new drugs, pharmaceutical companies are faced with conducting large trials to make sure the drugs are safe and effective. The biggest bottleneck companies face in bringing new medicines to market is recruiting enough eligible patients to participate in testing, and finding qualified physician "investigators" to conduct the trials, according to Acurian Chief Executive Leslie Michelson. Acurian aims to use the Internet to more quickly identify both doctor and patient participants. "Most major pharmaceutical companies are looking at the likelihood of having to manage a substantially growing number of clinical trials around the world," said Per Lofberg, president and chief executive of Merck Capital Ventures. "Everyone is interested in ways to do that better and more efficiently." Millions of Americans seek healthcare information online, Michelson says, and it is likely many of them have serious illnesses and would like to hear about trials that offer the chance to participate in new treatments. "It's one of the best applications for the Internet," he says. Acurian's Web site provides information for people with serious illnesses such as cancer, congestive heart failure, Alzheimer's disease and rheumatoid arthritis. The site provides health content through a partnership with Johns Hopkins University. "We're not the place to go if your kid has a rash," Michelson says. "We want to be the source where people with burdensome diseases go to find out about new and emerging treatments." Acurian's Web site lists trials that are sponsored both by private industry and by governments. Patients can search the site for trials by disease and location. Registration is optional, but patients who do register can receive e-mail notices about recently approved treatments, the latest research and new clinical trials in the patient's area of interest. Messages, for example, might notify patients that there is a trial beginning within 15 miles of their home, and provide a number to call if they're interested in getting more information. Acurian is one of several companies that have sprung up in recent years to find patients online for clinical trials. Michelson says the company's advantage is that it recruits doctors as well as patients and receives payment from pharmaceutical companies for recruiting both. "You need to do both simultaneously," he says. Acurian maintains a large database of qualified investigators, with information on specialty and previous clinical trial experience. The company's database also includes nonpatient-specific information on disease incidence in specific ZIP codes. Such information allows the company to focus recruitment efforts in certain geographic areas. "We know when we recruit an investigator that there's a suitable population of patients near that investigator," Michelson says.