Chief Financial Officer and Principal Financial & Accounting Officer, Nektar Therapeutics
Search every verified Sandra Gardiner interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a 2017 presentation to the CONNECTpreneur audience, Sandra Garrett, identified as the founder and CEO of MediMergent, described her company's digital platform as an "early warning system" designed to collect real-world data from patients about the side effects and efficacy of newly approved medications and medical devices. Garrett stated that the platform aims to address the limited safety data available at the time of FDA approval by tracking patient experiences over time. She noted that the company had raised $2.5 million from 35 physicians and was seeking an additional $5 million to scale its technology and build a national program. Garrett identified the company's stakeholders as pharmaceutical companies, health insurers, physicians, and patients. She said the business generates revenue by customizing data collection programs for clients and, once the database is large enough, by selling subscriptions for access to the information. Garrett also mentioned a partnership with the FDA, which she described as "both our carrot and our stick," and said the company was working with IBM and Watson to develop analytics using artificial intelligence.
“We provide you and members of your family with real-world data related to the risks and benefits of the drugs that you take. We have built a digital platform that's an early warning system to identify potential negative side effects of both medications and devices.”
“Each year approximately 77 new drugs are approved by the FDA and they are approved with a limited amount of data about the safety side effects and overall efficacy. We don't know anything about the real world effects until people in the community worldwide take that medication for a prolonged period of time.”
“Our stakeholders are pharmaceutical companies, health insurers, physicians, and most important you, the patient. For health insurers, we compare and contrast effectiveness of drugs and cost effectiveness of treatment.”
“We develop models that can predict whether the drug works long term or not, whether patients develop complications from treatment, and even if they will live long term.”
“Our business model, we make money from two sources. Number one, we customize data collection programs for our customers. In fact, we currently have a $5.44 million contract waiting for startup and several others in negotiation with pharmaceutical companies and payers. Number two, when our database becomes large enough...”
“We raised 2 and a half million to date primarily from 35 physicians in this community who are specialists across multiple therapeutic areas. They serve as our consultants and bring significant validity to our products.”
“We want to raise 5 million primarily to scale our technologies and to build a national program using disruptive technologies that genuinely serve the public health. We have a business model that projects a healthy return on investment.”
“It's not me alone with FDA as a partner that helps us to implement risk mitigation strategies by recommending our platform to biopharmaceutical companies and payers. The FDA as our partner turned out to be both our carrot and our stick.”
“We're working with companies such as IBM and Watson to anticipate our exit. In terms of milestones and fundraising, the use of our funds is to scale the enterprise, grow our call center, and build disruptive analytics with IBM using artificial intelligence from Watson.”
“Our technologies will help to accelerate time to market and our early warning system will reduce costs by keeping patients out of the emergency room and hospital.”
Sandra S. Garrett CEO MediMergent Addresses CONNECTpreneur audience and describes their revolutionary and innovative ...
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