Foresight invests £3.0 million of growth capital into global healthcare software provider NorthWest EHealth

NorthWest EHealth provides the life sciences industry with an alternative approach to the design and management of clinical trials, safely accelerating drug development programmes

A pioneering business that can deliver remote trials in a post-COVID world

Investment will be used to help expand data networks, sales and marketing and further product development

London 23 June 2021: Foresight Group, an award-winning listed infrastructure and private equity investment manager, has invested £3.0 million of growth capital into NorthWest EHealth Limited (“NWEH” or “the Company”), providers of software and services to the clinical trials market.

Established in 2016, NWEH grew out of a collaboration between the University of Manchester, Salford Royal Foundation NHS Trust and Salford Clinical Commissioning Group. Its products provide the life sciences industry with an alternative approach to clinical trial design and management. NWEH’s leading-edge technologies help run trials more cost effectively, from feasibility studies to the World’s first large scale Phase III trial using data directly from source electronic health records (EHR).

With Foresight’s support, NWEH aims to become a leading provider of clinical trials and data-driven trial design, feasibility and recruitment. The investment will be used to expand the current data network, enabling the Company to deliver a larger number of trials at a global level, increase product development and expand the sales and marketing team to help build long term, strategic relationships. The existing team have strong credentials in their field and are led by founder and CEO Martin Gibson.

Customers include several of the largest global pharmaceutical and research companies, such as GSK, Novartis and PPD. The market opportunity is vast, with global clinical trials estimated to be worth $69 billion annually and forecast to grow at a rate of 5.7% per year until 2026. The UK is one of the leading global markets for clinical trials, currently worth £3 billion per year, with life sciences identified as a priority sector by the UK Government post-Brexit.

Foresight is committed to working towards a smarter future by supporting SMEs with the potential to have a positive impact on society. NWEH’s innovative technology seeks to reduce the cost of running clinical trials and increase the efficiency of clinical trials, in turn contributing to improved medical treatment and a healthier population.

Commenting on the investment, Martin Gibson, CEO of NWEH, said: “The pandemic has strengthened the need for increased data integration to enable rapid trial design, recruitment and remote follow-up. Whilst our software meets many of these needs already, this investment means we can significantly accelerate our development and deployment programmes.”

“We are very pleased to be working with Foresight. Their track record in supporting SMEs and their particular focus on growth investment for life science and technology made them the ideal investment partner for us.”

Matthew Evans-Young, Senior Investment Manager at Foresight, added: “The last year has only highlighted the importance of the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry, and we see the UK as continuing to play a significant role in the sector going forwards. NWEH is a thought leader in the market, and we have been consistently impressed by the team’s vision for the future of clinical trials. We look forward to supporting them in achieving this vision over the coming years.”

Advisers to Foresight:

Financial DD: DSW LLP

Legal DD: RW Blears LLP

Commercial DD : PMSI Strategy LLP

Management DD : Catalysis Advisory Limited

Technology DD: CloudOrigin Limited

Cyber DD: ECSC Group

Insurance DD: Vista Insurance Brokers

Advisers to NorthWest EHealth Limited:

Legal : Brabners LLP

ENDS

For more information contact:

Patricia De Bidegain: foresight@citigatedewerogerson.com / +44 (0) 7921 353 825

Will Easton: foresight@citigatedewerogerson.com / +44 (0) 7860 753146

Notes to Editors

About Foresight Group LLP (“Foresight”):

Foresight is an award-winning listed infrastructure and private equity investment manager which has been managing investment funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients for more than 35 years.

Foresight has over £7 billion of Assets Under Management across a number of funds, including Listed Vehicles, Limited Partnerships, Enterprise Investment Schemes (EISs), Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs), Inheritance Tax Solutions using Business Relief (BR) and Open-Ended Investment Companies (OEICs).

Foresight’s Private Equity Team, comprising over 30 investment professionals, manages c.£700 million in a portfolio of more than 100 companies and pursues four discrete but complementary investment styles: Venture, Impact, Growth and Replacement Capital through its growing regional office network.

Foresight was a commended finalist in the Best Venture Capital Trust Provider category at the 2020 Investment Life & Pensions Moneyfacts Awards. Foresight was named ‘Fund Manager of the Year’ at the PLC Awards last year, ‘Generalist VCT of the Year’ at the Investment Week Tax Efficiency Awards 2018/19 and was a finalist in the 2018 Unquote British Private Equity Awards as Venture and Growth Capital House of the Year.

Foresight’s largest office is in London with regional UK offices in Edinburgh, Manchester, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, Leicester, Cambridge and Guernsey and international offices in Sydney, Rome, Madrid, and Luxembourg.

www.foresightgroup.eu

About NorthWest EHealth Limited:

NorthWest EHealth was founded as a collaboration between, The University of Manchester, Salford Royal Foundation NHS Trust and Salford Clinical Commissioning Group. In 2016 it incorporated as a company and now employs 70 staff from its headquarters in Manchester.

NWEH are the leading experts in the field of electronic health records enabled randomised clinical trials. It provided the technology that enabled the success of the Salford Lung study and is the only organisation in the world to have evaluated the safety and effectiveness of a pre-licence medicine in a real-world setting. NWEH is the only UK member of the World-leading, US-based NESTcc consortium. In the UK, its Manchester based team work closely with local NHS and academic communities and are technology partners in the DISCOVER-NoW Health Data Research UK hub in North West London.