PALO ALTO, Calif. & COPENHAGEN, Demark– Medable Inc., the leading software provider for patient-centered clinical trials, today announced that it has acquired LEO Innovation Lab’s Omhu A/S, a Denmark-based digital health tech company. Omhu was launched in 2020 to develop new ways of supporting patients and doctors when diagnosing, managing, and treating skin conditions. As part of the agreement with LEO Pharma A/S (owner of LEO Innovation Lab), Medable will take over the Omhu mobile applications and a talented team of 38 people with significant experience in digital health and artificial intelligence.
The acquisition expands Medable’s global engineering talent and gives Medable a third location in Europe, building on its European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland launched last July, along with a Switzerland office outside the Greater Zurich area established last fall.
Omhu’s software applications include Imagine, a skin-tracking mobile app that helps people document how skin condition changes over time by taking photos with their smartphone; Omhu Care, a telemedicine app where users can receive an assessment of their skin symptoms by Omhu’s in-house dermatologists; and Hudsvar, a triage telemedicine solution designed to help consumers understand the likelihood of having specific skin conditions based on remote assessment of their photos and medical history by a dermatologist.
“LEO Innovation Lab has a strong track record developing transformative patient-centered digital solutions, and the technology and team at Omhu exemplify that,” said Tim Smith, chief technology officer and co-founder of Medable. “We’re thrilled to add Omhu’s patient-centered solutions to our platform, and we welcome the innovative and talented Omhu team to Medable.”
Omhu was launched in 2020 after five years of research and development within the LEO Innovation Lab. The team strives to improve patient access and treatment options for skin conditions, which account for up to 30 percent of all primary care consultations in Europe. In Denmark, for example, a shortage of dermatologists means patients wait up to 23 weeks to see a specialist, severely impacting their daily life and well-being.
“Like Medable, Omhu combines medical and scientific expertise, a thorough understanding of the needs of patients and their doctors, and the research into applying artificial intelligence for the benefits of patients and doctors,” said Christian Sejersen, formerly Omhu CEO and now site lead for Medable Copenhagen. “We couldn’t have found a better home for our team, and we are excited to continue delivering innovation that makes lives better for patients.”
Anne Fleischer, CEO of LEO innovation Lab, said: “By spinning off Omhu completely in this divestment to Medable, we ensure that the great technologies developed by the highly skilled people in Omhu will reach and help even more people globally and improve their outcomes significantly. We are very proud to have landed this deal with Medable.”
Medable has deployed its software-as-a-service platform via more than 150 decentralized and hybrid clinical trials in 60 countries, serving more than one million patients and research participants globally. Medable’s customers have achieved impressive results with decentralized and hybrid trials – including 200% faster enrollment, 90% retention rates and 50% cost reductions. A new study from Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development shows that, on average, decentralized trials can achieve net financial benefits ranging from five to 14 times for Phase II and Phase III trials, due to reduced trial timelines and other factors.
