BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The 43North startup competition is whittling down to its final contestants.
Tuesday night’s announcement included 16 finalists who are all gunning for the $1 million top prize or one of seven $500,000 prizes.
While the competition brings in people from all over the nation to compete for a chance to move their enterprises to Buffalo, there was only one finalist named with roots in the Queen City already.
Circuit Clinical is just three-and-a-half years old, and was started by cardiologist Dr. Irfan Khan.
The CEO said it’s an incredible honor to be named a finalist in the business plan competition that started with 500 contestants.
“While the cash prizes would obviously give us the ability to hire more people here in Buffalo, it would also be the recognition both at a hometown level, and also at a national stage that the work we’re doing here at Circuit makes a big difference.”
The work the company does is connect patients to available clinical trials as a treatment option through their doctor’s offices.
“There is an enigma around clinical research,” said Michelle Fisher, SVP of operations. “Around…’What does that mean? Would I just be a guinea pig? And is this really going to benefit me?’ Or even just knowing that they’re out there as a care option.”
Just last year the company launched a companion platform to accompany its work with getting clinical trials more participation — it’s called TrialScout.
Think of it like a Yelp! for clinical trials.
Patient can use TrialScout to review their experiences with doctors and clinical trials to help others decide whether its a trial or program they’d like to be a part of, as well.
The platform TrialScout finished second place in the national clinical trials innovation competition at the DPharm conference last year, while the Circuit Clinical company is working to gain steam ahead of its live pitch to a panel at the end of this month.
“The reactions that you get from our team,” said Fisher. “They’re just so excited about ‘this is what we created together’”.
Circuit Clinical attributes a lot of its growth and success to its location in Buffalo.
“The ecosystem has been amazing, it’s been mazing for Circuit Clinical and it’s been amazing to watch it happen for our friends around the city,” said Dr. Khan. “There’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneur than right now here in Buffalo.”
