UB BIG signs 5-year deal with Circuit Clinical

Following its partnership with Garwood Medical Devices LLC, UB’s Buffalo Institute for Genomics and Data Analytics (BIG) has announced another strategic partnership with Buffalo-based Circuit Clinical.

UB BIG, part of the Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion investment to grow jobs through the innovation economy, will invest $1.1 million over five years to support Circuit Clinical’s growth in Buffalo.

“Our administration is working to attract a new wave of talent and economic growth upstate, and Western New York’s transformation continues to serve as a model of our progress,” Cuomo said. “Circuit Clinical’s move to Buffalo will create jobs, generate economic opportunity and strengthen the region’s role as a leader in the future of medicine. This partnership is a metaphor for the new Buffalo and we will continue working together to build on our progress and continue moving Western New York forward.”

Circuit Clinical, formerly Empirican PRN, is a clinical research site network dedicated to rapid, high-quality patient recruitment and enrollment backed by Current, its U.S. Food and Drug Administration-compliant software platform. Formed in 2014, the company works to bring new patients and physicians into clinical trials through a process that significantly enhances outreach to doctors and their patients about available clinical trials and simplifies enrollment and clinical patient participation in trials.

As part of its engagement with UB BIG, Circuit Clinical will expand its technology platform and bring software development jobs to Buffalo.

The economic development partnership will enable UB to be at the forefront of using Circuit Clinical’s innovative capabilities to support UB clinical trials. The partnership could enable Clinical Circuit to create more than 100 jobs in the next five years. The UB BIG investments will be made in increments as Clinical Circuit achieves annual job, investment and product development milestones.

“This is a win-win,” said BIG Executive Director Brian McIlroy. “By combining the university’s assets with that of Circuit Clinical, we can cultivate a positive economic impact while simultaneously enhancing clinical trial opportunities for the Buffalo Niagara region. UB, leveraging its Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), is going to pilot Clinical Circuit’s software as it evaluates novel methods for improving clinical trials.”

Circuit Clinical CEO Jim Papineau noted that partnering with UB BIG “helps us transform the patient experience in clinical research.”

“By enhancing our software through our relationship with UB, we’ll personalize each patient’s participation in a way that hasn’t been done before. We’ll bring patients the latest research choices in the safety and convenience of the doctors’ offices they know and trust best. Our goal is to help bring new medicines to market faster and lower the costs of developing them.”

Circuit Clinical is a START-UP NY company and also was a semifinalist in this year’s 43North business plan competition. It is located in the UB Downtown Gateway building.

Circuit Clinical initially had planned to expand its clinical trial process in Colorado. However, thanks to Cuomo’s emphasis on upstate revitalization through START-UP NY, the 43North business plan competition and other efforts, Circuit Clinical decided to expand in Buffalo.

“This is a perfect example of what START-UP NY brings to the table — an early-stage, innovative company collaborating with a world-class research institution to develop new science and create new jobs in New York State,” said Howard Zemsky, Empire State Development president, CEO and commissioner. “If it weren’t for START-UP NY and the better business climate Gov. Cuomo has created, this fast-growing, high-tech medical company would have been on its way to another city or state, and taking more than 100 well-paying jobs with it.” 

“Circuit Clinical is just one of the 77 START-UP NY businesses UB is sponsoring in an effort to connect the businesses of the future with the strengths and technical capabilities of a major research university,” President Satish K. Tripathi said. “UB students interning at this company are benefiting from being part of a high-tech medical startup while also well positioning themselves for a promising career that will allow them to remain in Buffalo.”