By Sean Moloughney, Associate Editor11.29.23
As a physician researcher, Dr. Jeff Chen witnessed the problems of the pharma-model of medicine. Seeking better and cheaper health treatments, he created and led a first-of-its-kind natural products research center at UCLA. However, he grew frustrated with how slow and expensive the trials were, and how he was prohibited from studying many of the products that consumers could buy in stores.
At the same time, Pelin Thorogood, a tech CEO turned philanthropist, was funding first-of-its-kind natural medicine trials at renowned research institutions across the U.S. In fact, she helped fund history’s largest autism study using natural compounds. However, as a data expert, she came to the painful realization that the small scale and homogeneous populations of those studies were never going to achieve her mission of affordable, personalized medicine for all.
When Thorogood and Chen joined forces, they sparked an idea that could fix a broken system and set healthcare on a new trajectory.
And so Radicle Science was born in 2021.
“Many in our founding team left retirement-track positions and took pay cuts in order to help revolutionize healthcare,” said Chen. “The team’s passion, sacrifice, and creativity were collectively unleashed by a unified mission: to close the proof gap between pharmaceutical drugs and natural products.”
NW: Radicle Science is an AI-driven healthtech B Corp that offers its “proof-as-a-service” concept based on a virtual, direct-to-consumer clinical trial approach designed to increase speed and scale while lowering cost. Now, outside the dietary supplement industry there’s a lot of skepticism about the efficacy of products. In the field of nutritional science, there’s an evolution of understanding as new research is conducted, often there are conflicting conclusions from meta-analyses, and people are generally confused about what to believe and who to trust. What’s your assessment of this complicated landscape?
Jeff Chen, MD, Co-founder and CEO, Radicle Science: A vast majority of supplement products on shelves don't have proof of their effectiveness because access to traditional clinical trials has been prohibitive: they have been too expensive and slow. Traditional clinical trials were created to serve a patented pharmaceutical pathway, not natural botanical ingredients.
Even if supplement companies accessed a clinical trial, the results may not be accurate or relevant for most consumers. Historically, most participants in U.S. clinical trials have been Caucasian males living in major cities. Demographic and behavioral differences such as gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and environmental exposures can all impact health outcomes and thus the results of a trial are only relevant to the types of people who participated in the trial. Moreover, supplement trials often have small sample sizes, reducing confidence in the accuracy of the conclusions and making it difficult to reach statistical significance.
That lack of diversity is why researchers often lament “further investigation utilizing larger sample sizes, diverse clinical and cultural populations, and varying treatment dosages are needed to substantiate clinical trial findings.”
NW: What impact do you hope to make through your service offerings?
Chen: As a public benefit organization (B-Corp), we are on a mission to close the proof gap for the supplement industry. We believe that by providing easy, affordable access to gold-standard clinical trials, we can usher in a new chapter for our industry where:
NW: You’ve talked previously about the “democratization” of clinical evidence in the context of an historic lack of diversity in clinical trials. How does the Radicle Science model address inequity and underrepresentation?
Chen: Our large scale virtual clinical trials were especially designed to address the need for diversity in research. Our smallest trials are often a magnitude larger in size than average supplement trials. Combine that with our 100% virtual approach, and we can ensure Americans of all walks of life can be meaningfully represented in Radicle Science’s clinical trials. Thus far, we have screened more than 83,000 Americans and studied over 30,000 Americans since launching the company in 2021. Another 11,000 are currently enrolled in ongoing trials.
Pelin Thorogood, Co-Founder and Executive Chairwoman, Radicle Science: We have addressed the traditional inequity and underrepresentation in clinical trials by meeting Americans 100% where they live, 100% of the time, even if they work two jobs as a single parent or live in rural, hard-to-reach areas. Since our studies are 100% virtual, we have removed geographic and socioeconomic barriers and can reach Americans who have typically been excluded from clinical trials.
This includes rural populations (who usually cannot access clinical trials mostly conducted in major metropolitan areas where academic medical centers are located). Of all our participants, 20% are located outside of metropolitan areas, reflecting the most recent census population distribution. This figure is not based solely on population density calculations, but also incorporates traffic flows and commuting patterns to and from each ZIP code; this gives us a more accurate picture of these 20% of participants who would otherwise have very limited access to in-person trials.
Importantly, we have achieved gender parity, with about 54% of our study participants identifying as female.
Across all our studies, approximately 20% are people of color as well, with representation continuing to increase with each study. In our most recent gut health study, 28% of participants are people of color. (Usually people of color represent from 2% to 16% of patients in trials, according to Harvard Business Review.)
Of note, American Indians/Alaskan Natives are especially well represented in our studies, making up 3.1% of our study population, even though they are only 1.3% of census estimates.
NW: AI is talked about everywhere today and the field is advancing quickly. What’s your assessment or expectation of how analytics and AI can or should impact the field of health and healthcare?
Thorogood: Precision medicine depends on gathering and analyzing massive amounts of information from a widely representative and diverse range of individuals. This isn’t without challenges, but we’re in a unique historical moment where we have the technological means to achieve this ambitious goal.
With AI, we can analyze large data sets for our original hypotheses—as well as explore hidden correlations in the data to see how demographic, behavioral, prescription medications, and pre-existing conditions may play a role in the efficacy or side effects of the therapeutic studies.
These signals can be the perfect hypothesis to drive further targeted research that can:
This is precisely why Radicle Science is adamant about only conducting large-scale standardized trials. It requires a large standardized data set to apply AI models to correlate interactions between a product and an individual’s genetic, geographic, socioeconomic, environmental, behavioral, or cultural differences. Leveraging AI on large and diverse health data sets, we will be able to offer predictive insights that are broadly applicable, driving towards precision health for all.
NW: What advice would you give to female entrepreneurs and/or women in science? What challenges have you faced in your career? Who has inspired you and/or inspires you today?
Thorogood: Honestly, just be real. Be your most authentic self. Be transparent. Be in touch. Be present. Be vulnerable.
Perhaps the most important leadership trait is being vulnerable. As a woman working for decades in a man’s world, I used to show up in thick armor. But what I discovered is that I take my biggest leaps, create my deepest connections, and make the most progress in those moments when I take off my armor.
Leadership is about inspiring others and enrolling others in your vision so the movement can grow. To do that, people must be able to connect with you—and that happens through the heart. And the only way to connect with the heart is through vulnerability. Vulnerability engenders authentic connectivity.
People may logically agree with what you say, but they must feel your words in their heart to believe. When we move up from the heart and head, it’s the most powerful way to inspire others to join the mission. When your heart and head are aligned, then you can lead your company towards your vision with clarity and courage. Words alone don’t inspire, but words spoken from the heart do.
Theodore Roosevelt’s (wo)man in the arena has always resonated with me:
Daring greatly is about showing up with heart—and all the authenticity that vulnerability engenders.
At the same time, Pelin Thorogood, a tech CEO turned philanthropist, was funding first-of-its-kind natural medicine trials at renowned research institutions across the U.S. In fact, she helped fund history’s largest autism study using natural compounds. However, as a data expert, she came to the painful realization that the small scale and homogeneous populations of those studies were never going to achieve her mission of affordable, personalized medicine for all.
When Thorogood and Chen joined forces, they sparked an idea that could fix a broken system and set healthcare on a new trajectory.
And so Radicle Science was born in 2021.
“Many in our founding team left retirement-track positions and took pay cuts in order to help revolutionize healthcare,” said Chen. “The team’s passion, sacrifice, and creativity were collectively unleashed by a unified mission: to close the proof gap between pharmaceutical drugs and natural products.”
NW: Radicle Science is an AI-driven healthtech B Corp that offers its “proof-as-a-service” concept based on a virtual, direct-to-consumer clinical trial approach designed to increase speed and scale while lowering cost. Now, outside the dietary supplement industry there’s a lot of skepticism about the efficacy of products. In the field of nutritional science, there’s an evolution of understanding as new research is conducted, often there are conflicting conclusions from meta-analyses, and people are generally confused about what to believe and who to trust. What’s your assessment of this complicated landscape?
Jeff Chen, MD, Co-founder and CEO, Radicle Science: A vast majority of supplement products on shelves don't have proof of their effectiveness because access to traditional clinical trials has been prohibitive: they have been too expensive and slow. Traditional clinical trials were created to serve a patented pharmaceutical pathway, not natural botanical ingredients.
Even if supplement companies accessed a clinical trial, the results may not be accurate or relevant for most consumers. Historically, most participants in U.S. clinical trials have been Caucasian males living in major cities. Demographic and behavioral differences such as gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and environmental exposures can all impact health outcomes and thus the results of a trial are only relevant to the types of people who participated in the trial. Moreover, supplement trials often have small sample sizes, reducing confidence in the accuracy of the conclusions and making it difficult to reach statistical significance.
That lack of diversity is why researchers often lament “further investigation utilizing larger sample sizes, diverse clinical and cultural populations, and varying treatment dosages are needed to substantiate clinical trial findings.”
NW: What impact do you hope to make through your service offerings?
Chen: As a public benefit organization (B-Corp), we are on a mission to close the proof gap for the supplement industry. We believe that by providing easy, affordable access to gold-standard clinical trials, we can usher in a new chapter for our industry where:
- Companies create innovative products backed by clinical evidence on that specific formulation;
- Consumers confidently buy clinically proven products;
- Healthcare providers finally have the clinical data to trust and recommend supplements; and
- Clinical trials are diverse, which improves personalized medicine and health equity.
NW: You’ve talked previously about the “democratization” of clinical evidence in the context of an historic lack of diversity in clinical trials. How does the Radicle Science model address inequity and underrepresentation?
Chen: Our large scale virtual clinical trials were especially designed to address the need for diversity in research. Our smallest trials are often a magnitude larger in size than average supplement trials. Combine that with our 100% virtual approach, and we can ensure Americans of all walks of life can be meaningfully represented in Radicle Science’s clinical trials. Thus far, we have screened more than 83,000 Americans and studied over 30,000 Americans since launching the company in 2021. Another 11,000 are currently enrolled in ongoing trials.
Pelin Thorogood, Co-Founder and Executive Chairwoman, Radicle Science: We have addressed the traditional inequity and underrepresentation in clinical trials by meeting Americans 100% where they live, 100% of the time, even if they work two jobs as a single parent or live in rural, hard-to-reach areas. Since our studies are 100% virtual, we have removed geographic and socioeconomic barriers and can reach Americans who have typically been excluded from clinical trials.
This includes rural populations (who usually cannot access clinical trials mostly conducted in major metropolitan areas where academic medical centers are located). Of all our participants, 20% are located outside of metropolitan areas, reflecting the most recent census population distribution. This figure is not based solely on population density calculations, but also incorporates traffic flows and commuting patterns to and from each ZIP code; this gives us a more accurate picture of these 20% of participants who would otherwise have very limited access to in-person trials.
Importantly, we have achieved gender parity, with about 54% of our study participants identifying as female.
Across all our studies, approximately 20% are people of color as well, with representation continuing to increase with each study. In our most recent gut health study, 28% of participants are people of color. (Usually people of color represent from 2% to 16% of patients in trials, according to Harvard Business Review.)
Of note, American Indians/Alaskan Natives are especially well represented in our studies, making up 3.1% of our study population, even though they are only 1.3% of census estimates.
NW: AI is talked about everywhere today and the field is advancing quickly. What’s your assessment or expectation of how analytics and AI can or should impact the field of health and healthcare?
Thorogood: Precision medicine depends on gathering and analyzing massive amounts of information from a widely representative and diverse range of individuals. This isn’t without challenges, but we’re in a unique historical moment where we have the technological means to achieve this ambitious goal.
With AI, we can analyze large data sets for our original hypotheses—as well as explore hidden correlations in the data to see how demographic, behavioral, prescription medications, and pre-existing conditions may play a role in the efficacy or side effects of the therapeutic studies.
These signals can be the perfect hypothesis to drive further targeted research that can:
- Anticipate patient health outcomes;
- Explore hidden correlations for further potential signals;
- Accelerate and iterate protocol design;
- Enable precision targeting; and
- Optimize trial recruitment, engagement, and retention efforts.
This is precisely why Radicle Science is adamant about only conducting large-scale standardized trials. It requires a large standardized data set to apply AI models to correlate interactions between a product and an individual’s genetic, geographic, socioeconomic, environmental, behavioral, or cultural differences. Leveraging AI on large and diverse health data sets, we will be able to offer predictive insights that are broadly applicable, driving towards precision health for all.
NW: What advice would you give to female entrepreneurs and/or women in science? What challenges have you faced in your career? Who has inspired you and/or inspires you today?
Thorogood: Honestly, just be real. Be your most authentic self. Be transparent. Be in touch. Be present. Be vulnerable.
Perhaps the most important leadership trait is being vulnerable. As a woman working for decades in a man’s world, I used to show up in thick armor. But what I discovered is that I take my biggest leaps, create my deepest connections, and make the most progress in those moments when I take off my armor.
Leadership is about inspiring others and enrolling others in your vision so the movement can grow. To do that, people must be able to connect with you—and that happens through the heart. And the only way to connect with the heart is through vulnerability. Vulnerability engenders authentic connectivity.
People may logically agree with what you say, but they must feel your words in their heart to believe. When we move up from the heart and head, it’s the most powerful way to inspire others to join the mission. When your heart and head are aligned, then you can lead your company towards your vision with clarity and courage. Words alone don’t inspire, but words spoken from the heart do.
Theodore Roosevelt’s (wo)man in the arena has always resonated with me:
"It is not the critic who counts ... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood ... who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
Daring greatly is about showing up with heart—and all the authenticity that vulnerability engenders.
