Company: Radicle Science, San Diego, CA
Company Description: Radicle Science has democratized clinical trials to conduct medical research at unprecedented cost, speed, scale and diversity. Through our Proof-as-a-Service, non-pharmaceuticals can easily access clinical trials for the first time in history. Since launching in 2021, we have already studied over 20,000 diverse Americans in some of history's largest or first rigorous trials on natural products.
Nomination Category: Entrepreneur Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Founding Team of the Year - Business Services Industries
 Nomination Title: Co-founders of Radicle Science, Pelin and Jeff, along with the team who joined their movement
- Which will you submit for this nomination, an essay of up to 650 words about the achievements of the nominated team since January 1 2021, OR a video of up to five (5) minutes about the same? CHOOSE ONE:
An essay of up to 650 words
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video:
- In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) of the chief accomplishments of this nominated team since the beginning of 2021.
Total 149 words used.
- Democratized clinical trials, reducing cost by more than 10x, while increasing study population size by 10x
- Enabled non-pharmaceuticals to easily access pharma-grade trials for the first time in history
- Addressed shortcomings of traditional trials by creating large scale, virtual, intentionally diverse trials involving more women, minorities, and rural populations
- Studied over 20,000 individuals in 45 first of their kind gold-standard randomized controlled trials, including several of history’s first and/or largest trials on various natural products and supplements.
- Generated seven figure revenues in 2021, the first year of operations, and nearly doubled YOY revenue in 2022
- Created the “Proof-as-a-Service” category, with clients ranging from global CPG companies with market caps of $100B to start ups -- a real act of democratization.
- KPMG Top 10 “US Tech Innovator, UCSF Digital Health Awards “Rising Star” finalist
- Notable partnerships include UCSD, the United Natural Products Association (UNPA), and The Clean Label Project
- If you are providing an essay of up to 650 words, place it in this space:
Total 639 words used.
“The co-founders of Radicle Science, Pelin and Jeff, along with the team who joined their movement, are brilliant, passionate and inspiring. Their audacious vision to reimagine traditional pharma efficacy trials promises to rapidly and accurately determine which nutraceuticals and natural molecules actually work for which conditions.” -Dr. Peter Diamandis (X Prize Chairman, Fortune Magazine’s “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders”)
Dr. Jeff Chen, a physician scientist, was pained by the pharma-model and desired to fix the healthcare system.. He wanted to unlock natural medicines that were affordable and effective, with minimal side effects. Upon graduating from medical school, he founded a first-of-its-kind research program on natural products at UCLA. However, he grew frustrated at how slow and expensive these trials were, being originally created for patentable, pharmaceutical drugs.
At the same time, Pelin Thorogood, a tech CEO turned philanthropist, was funding first-of-its-kind natural medicine trials at American universities. However, as a data expert, she came to the painful realization that the small scale and homogeneous populations of those studies would never achieve her mission of affordable, personalized medicine for all.
Dr. Jeff and Pelin were on separate yet parallel missions to prove what non-pharmaceuticals could do, hoping to transform their role in society for all future generations.
When COVID hit and nearly all traditional trials came to a halt, Dr. Jeff and Pelin saw a massive opportunity to fix the broken system. As a physician executive in the clinical trial world of academia, Dr. Jeff understood the intricacies and flaws of traditional clinical models all too well. Pelin, on the other hand, had a deep background in data and analytics from being a tech executive at the forefront of public and private SaaS companies.
Through virtualization, digital health and data-driven personalization technology, they saw the opportunity of a lifetime to create a new model of research - one that could be affordable and easily accessible for natural, non-pharmaceutical health products. Just as importantly, they saw how to bring much needed equity and diversity into medical research.
In the first job postings, Dr. Jeff took inspiration from his hero, Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, since he too was navigating uncharted waters. He wrote, ”The work will be hard, and safety is not guaranteed, but if we succeed, we will permanently alter the course of medicine for all future generations.” When Dr. Emily Pauli saw this posting, she exclaimed, “I think I’ve found my people!” Leaving behind a prestigious retirement-track oncology research directorship, she became a founding member of Radicle Science and is now our Chief Research Officer. Emily's depth of research operations experience (including 6 FDA approved oncology drugs) and her resultant passion for the mission of finding natural medicines made her a perfect addition to the team.
Ted Roth, a lawyer and accounting whiz, was instantly captivated by this revolutionary idea and immediately helped with Public Benefit Corporation formation. His background in medical devices companies and executing complex M&A transactions made him uniquely qualified to serve as CFO, COO, and internal counsel navigating complex regulatory waters.
Powered by a passionate team, Radicle has launched a revolutionary AI-driven, virtual, crowdsourced research model that delivers automated and standardized, gold standard clinical trials at unprecedented affordability, speed and scale. For the first time in history, natural products, dietary supplements, and other unpatentable non-pharmaceuticals can afford clinical trials.
In essence, Radicle has done for clinical trials what Ford Motors did for cars. Significantly, our large scale studies are inclusive of women, minorities, and rural populations, who have all been traditionally excluded from traditional clinical trials.
"Radicle is generating some of history’s first data on the safety and effectiveness of non-prescription products used by millions; their findings will empower both consumers and health professionals to make better evidence-based health decisions." -Dr. Jonathan Fielding (Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA, White House advisor)
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