Through a combination of AI and industry expertise, Talking Medicines has developed a data platform to bring social listening for pharmaceutical companies to help drive their marketing strategies in the hope it delivers better patient outcomes.

Its platform, PatientMetRx, is driven by AI models that use machine learning and natural language processing to provide science-based insights which seek to cut through the ‘noise’ from social platforms.

By structuring and translating the patient’s voice into a Patient Confidence Score (PCS), Talking Medicines helps to drive more effective marketing by pharma and ultimately deliver better patient outcomes.

Boston based life science investor Mark Bamforth of Thairm Bio has joined the current funders of the Scottish company in a syndicated funding round of £1.5million alongside Tern Plc, the investment company specialising in the Internet of Things (“IoT”), impact investor SIS Ventures, and Scottish Enterprise, which has also provided grant funding through its SMART:SCOTLAND programme.

“This is a great opportunity to support the Talking Medicines’ team to bring their platform to the US to help patients and pharma companies to improve the delivery of healthcare,” said Bamforth.

The Talking Medicines funding round brings the total raised by the company to £4 million. The company is focusing this year on expanding its PatientMetRx subscription base amongst pharma brand teams and pharma marketing agencies. Talking Medicines has established a new office in New Jersey to support these plans with a view to recruiting a US-based sales team.

Formed in 2013 by CEO Jo Halliday alongside co-founders Dr Elizabeth Fairley and Dr Scott Crae, Glasgow-based Talking Medicines was founded upon the principle of ‘profit with purpose’, with a social mission of delivering better health outcomes for patients. The company has doubled its headcount over the past year to 35, which includes its own annotation team.

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Talking about the investment round, Talking Medicines CEO, Jo Halliday, said: “2022 promises to be a big year for Talking Medicines with this new investment.

“Having scaled up our operations and formally launched our PatientMetrx technology platform, we’ve now got our sights set on expanding in the US pharma market, providing brand teams and agencies with a new way of understanding what patients are really saying and feeling about their medicines.

“The pharmaceutical industry will go through seismic change this year and our actionable patient insights will be transformational for the industry. Our new office in New Jersey provides the ideal base for us to build relationships with customers, acquire new leads and drive revenue growth.”

Along with the Talking Medicines funding round, the business has scooped a number of accolades in recent years including, most recently, being announced as one of the First 100 UK Digital Health Companies by UK Gov Department of Trade & Industry.

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