New Cancer-Focused Biotech Forty Seven Inc. Selects Medidata to Accelerate Novel Immuno-Oncology R&D

Stanford University Startup Leverages Medidata’s Cloud Technology to Tackle Cancers with Limited Treatment Options


NEW YORK, N.Y.– July 28, 2016 –Medidata (NASDAQ: MDSO), the leading global provider of cloud-based solutions for clinical research in life sciences, today announced that Forty Seven Inc., a new biotechnology company specializing in cancer immunotherapy, is powering two upcoming anti-cancer studies with the Medidata Clinical Cloud®.

Formed by Stanford University researchers in 2015 and backed by Sutter Hill, Lightspeed, Clarus Ventures and Google’s GV, the venture capital arm of Alphabet, Inc., the Palo Alto, California-based biotech will leverage Medidata’s industry-leading electronic data capture, management and reporting system (Medidata Rave®) to advance therapies for cancers with highly unmet medical needs.

“The idea to form Forty Seven Inc. stemmed from a growing passion for science and pioneering breakthrough cancer solutions for patients. That’s why we feel strongly about partnering with forward-thinking, like-minded organizations such as Medidata,” said Karen Green, senior director of clinical data management at Forty Seven. “As we continue to scale our business and turn our research ideas into viable drug candidates, Medidata’s flexible technology platform will provide us with access to the data we need, when we need it-helping to advance our pipeline of therapies and bring them to cancer patients who need new treatment options.”

Forty Seven is named after the CD47 tumor cell protein that its lead molecule, Hu5F9-G4-an experimental monoclonal cancer drug-aims to attack. The biotech is embarking on a series of clinical trials to test its safety and efficacy in solid tumor and blood cancers. As part of these efforts, Forty Seven is using Rave in two of its upcoming Phase I and Phase II trials to streamline study operations, improve data quality and accessibility, and speed decision-making processes.

“We’re proud to partner with Forty Seven Inc., an innovative organization that’s bringing together the best of academia and cutting-edge science to power next-generation cancer research,” said Medidata’s chief operating officer, Mike Capone. “With our cloud platform and deep industry expertise, we’re arming Forty Seven’s R&D teams with the technology, data and actionable insights they need to make decisions safely and quickly, and charge ahead as an emerging leader in the immuno-oncology space.”