Cure Forward

Cure Forward was a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based digital health company that operated as a patient activation platform focused on precision medicine for cancer patients. The company was incubated and launched in 2015 by the healthcare venture capital firm Apple Tree Partners, which was its sole investor, providing a significant $15 million in Series A financing.

The core of Cure Forward's business was a technology platform designed to connect cancer patients with relevant clinical trials, treatment options, and other patients who had similar molecular profiles. The service intended to solve a critical bottleneck in drug development: the costly and prolonged process of clinical trial recruitment. By harnessing patients' genomic test data, the platform aimed to make personalized healthcare more accessible, allowing patients and caregivers to discover options beyond standard care and take action against their disease. The business model was challenging to scale and fund, as it was attempting to create a new type of marketplace connecting individual patients with pharmaceutical companies conducting trials.

Led initially by CEO Martin Naley and later by Frank Ingari, Cure Forward sought to address the difficulty patients faced in navigating the complex landscape of clinical trials. The company provided an online resource, the Clinical Trials Exchange, to give patients access to trials they might not have discovered otherwise. Despite its clear mission and substantial initial backing, the company struggled to generate sufficient revenue to attract additional investors. In May 2017, about two years after its launch, Cure Forward announced it was suspending its services, ultimately ceasing operations in early June 2017.

Keywords: precision medicine, clinical trials, patient activation, oncology, digital health, genomics, cancer treatment, health-tech, patient data, clinical trial recruitment