Science 37, Logical Images Join Forces to Help Dermatologists, Patients

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Science 37 founders Dr. Belinda Tan and Dr. Noah Craft

Science 37 Inc., a mobile tech and clinical trial firm based in Playa Vista, has struck a deal with Logical Images Inc. to help doctors and patients better manage skin disorders, the companies announced April 24.

Terms of the partnership with the visual technology company based in Rochester, N.Y., were not disclosed.

Science 37 is a digital health biomedical research company that manages “site-less” clinical trials via iPhone apps. Logical Images is a medical tech company that employs a VisualDx software database of thousands of medical images to help doctors diagnose and treat disease.

The agreement calls for both companies to combine the more than 100,000 skin-related images from VisualDx with the patient-driven content of Science 37 to help educate patients on how to make better decisions about health care and whether or not to join a clinical trial.

Last month, Science 37 entered a three-year agreement with Swiss pharma giant Novartis AG to conduct 10 clinical trials with its mobile phone app in the fields of dermatology, neurology, psychiatry, oncology and diabetes.

The digital health company, which employs more than 160 people, was co-founded three years ago by dermatologists Dr. Noah Craft and Dr. Belinda Tan at LA BioMed on the campus of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance.

Science 37 conducts virtual clinical drug trials solely via telemedicine and rented iPhones using a proprietary cloud-based software platform. No medical office visits are required. By making clinical trials at home more accessible, the company says, it can address a lack of racial diversity represented in traditional drug studies.

To date, the privately owned company has raised $75 million through three funding rounds, whose major investors include dRx Capital AG of San Diego, a joint venture fund set up by Novartis and Qualcomm Inc.

Health business reporter Dana Bartholomew can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @_DanaBart.