Great Point Partners has made an investment in Corrona, a provider of health care data with a specific emphasis on rheumatoid arthritis.
“Great Point demonstrated their potential value to Corrona during our first meeting and stood out from other potential private equity partners,” said James Cavan, President and COO of Corrona. “The team was impressively knowledgeable about the business of clinical drug monitoring and research. Corrona will benefit from their new insights and experiences along with additional working capital to address our growth goals. As a result of this investment, our expected growth to new therapeutic areas and geographic representations will accelerate which will benefit our clinicians, subscribers, researchers and most importantly patients.”
Corrona (The Consortium of Rheumatology Researchers of North America) is an observational registry that provides clinical real world data obtained prospectively from both physicians and patients at the time of a routine clinic visit. The company has a large and robust dataset for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, spondyloarthopathy (spine arthritis) and gout, and is branching out to other autoimmune and chronic diseases. The company was founded in 2000 by Dr. Joel Kremer and is based west of Boston in Southborough, MA (www.corrona.org).
“Corrona has grown rapidly with an impressive customer base because the company is uniquely positioned with the most detailed and informative patient disease registries”, said David Kroin, Managing Director of Great Point Partners. “Corrona is uniquely positioned at the intersection of biopharmaceutical development and health care information technology with an emphasis on research and science, each of which is a core focus area for Great Point’s private equity efforts. This transaction will provide the company with the growth capital and resources necessary to realize Dr. Joel Kremer’s vision of a fully integrated real world evidence company.”
The equity investment from Great Point will fund growth in the company’s infrastructure in IT, epidemiology and biostatistical support, pharmacoeconomics, and project management capabilities and will also fund the company’s expansion to other autoimmune and chronic diseases. Great Point made the investment through its second fund which closed above target in December 2013 with $215 million of capital commitments.
Great Point Partners has approximately $750 million of equity capital under management. Since founding in 2003, the firm has provided growth equity, recapitalization and management buyout financing to more than 100 health care companies. Currently the firm manages capital in both public equity and private equity funds. Both the private and public funds invest across all sectors of the health care industry including biotechnology and life sciences, consumer health, generic drugs, health care services, information technology, insurance, medical devices, specialty pharmaceuticals and workers compensation. Great Point Partners is located in Greenwich, CT (www.gppfunds.com).
“Through the partnership with Great Point Partners, Corrona will realize its full potential to lead the nation in reporting clinical results which make a difference to patients, physicians, and society. We are pleased and enormously flattered that Great Point has chosen to invest in Corrona,” said Dr. Joel Kremer, Founder and CMO of Corrona. “Working together with Great Point, Corrona will be able to explore and achieve its full potential to become a world leader in health care research and post-market approval drug surveillance for chronic diseases.”
© 2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 4-22-14