Elligo Health Research

Elligo Health Research is an Austin, Texas-based healthcare-enabling research organization that integrates clinical trials into routine healthcare delivery. Its model uses electronic health records and existing physician-patient relationships to identify potential trial participants and then supplies community physicians and clinics with the personnel, processes, technology and infrastructure needed to run studies inside their own practices. The company states that its approach targets the roughly 97% of U.S. physicians who do not currently participate in clinical research, addressing sponsor difficulties in accessing patients and the under-representation of communities located far from academic research centers.

The company markets four principal service lines: the Elligo Site Network of research-ready community sites, with staffing, training and technology integrated into existing clinical workflows; decentralized clinical trial services covering virtual, hybrid and traditional designs with centralized oversight and data-powered recruitment; patient recruitment and engagement services including outreach, study branding, bilingual pre-screening and site support; and travel and logistics services providing concierge travel support, reimbursements and participant stipends. Its technology has been described as the IntElligo Research Stack, a proprietary platform underpinning trial identification and conduct. Customers include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and diagnostic sponsors, as well as contract research organizations and research sites.

Elligo has grown partly through acquisition, buying AI clinical-research virtual assistant company Root Health in June 2021 and research practice management and clinical services organization ClinEdge — including GuideStar Research and BTC of New Bedford — in a $135 million transaction announced in September 2021, extending its footprint across the U.S. and Europe.

Founding story

Elligo was founded in 2016 by CEO John Potthoff, previously CEO of Theorem Clinical Research, and co-founder and president Chad Moore, to address low patient and physician participation in clinical research. The company defined its market position and identity ahead of launch with agency SCORR Marketing and unveiled its brand and research findings at an invitation-only event during the 2016 Drug Information Association annual meeting.

Business model

Elligo contracts with pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and diagnostic sponsors and with CROs to deliver clinical trial services, including site network access, decentralized trial operations, patient recruitment and participant travel and logistics. Physician practices are provided the staff, processes, technology and infrastructure to conduct trials in their clinics at no cost to the clinic, with physicians reimbursed for running the studies.

Revenue is generated from sponsors and CROs paying for trial-enabling services; participating clinics receive the required personnel, processes, technology and infrastructure at no cost and physicians are reimbursed for conducting trials.

Traction

The company reports 1.6 million patients in the Elligo Site Network, more than 40 sites in that network, and more than 500 decentralized, recruitment and travel studies. Recruitment campaigns have been executed in 28 countries across more than 200 trials, travel and logistics services are delivered in more than 38 countries, and the company cites a 93% post-randomization retention rate. Headcount grew from 80 to 400 employees in the year preceding the September 2021 Series E, with roughly 65% of staff in Austin and 35% in Boston, and management then projected hiring another 350 to 400 people.

Latest developments

Elligo currently markets four service lines — the Elligo Site Network, decentralized clinical trials, recruitment and engagement, and travel and logistics — and publishes webinar content including sessions on patient recruitment and retention, diverse patient participation in site-based and decentralized studies, and EHR optimization and decentralized strategies for liquid biopsy cancer screening performance studies.