Clara Health, a company connecting patients to clinical trials, is partnering with two Silicon Valley tech leaders to create a free public health initiative that connects people with clinical trials targeting COVID-19.
World Without COVID will help COVID-19-positive and -negative people find trials testing new diagnostics, treatments and vaccine discovery. Raj Kapoor, chief strategy officer of the ride-sharing company LYFT, initiated the organization after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
“When I tested positive for COVID-19, my first thought was for my four children – had I exposed them? Were there any experimental tests or treatments available for them?” Kapoor said in a statement. “We were lucky enough to recover, but thousands of others haven’t been. This sparked the idea for this important initiative and enabled a World Without COVID for my family and billions of others.”
Kapoor paired with Vijay Chattha of VSC, a public relations firm, and Clara Health to launch the effort. Clara is backed by leading investors including Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund, and has support from patient and medical hailing from top institutions including UCSF, Takeda and MIT.
“Our mission is to democratize access to clinical trials so anyone can access potential new breakthroughs in medicine and accelerate their advancement,” Evan Ehrenberg, co-founder and CEO of Clara Health, said in a statement. “Immediate action is critical in the fight against COVID-19. We’ve created a seamless way to match volunteers with relevant trials and support them throughout the process of joining studies so they can support testing of the diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines that will be key to ending this pandemic.”
According to the release, the World Without COVID’s database currently lists over 300 COVID-19 clinical trials, including all US interventional studies and most international trials currently underway. The listing is automatically updated every day based on data pulled from clinicaltrials.gov and other sources.
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