Why We're Starting With Multiple Myeloma
Picking a beachhead condition is one of the highest-leverage decisions we make, and it's tempting to pick based on instinct — a condition that feels important, or one with a big, sympathetic patient population. We wanted a sharper filter than that.
What actually matters for our model
Our product is a daily check-in companion, which means it only works well for conditions people live with for years, not months. And our business model depends on pharma partners actively funding data collection right now, not someday. So we looked for conditions where three things are all true at once: a population that's genuinely hard to reach any other way, real current pharma dollars already in motion, and a slow enough disease course that a "check in daily, for years" product actually fits.
What we found
Mature drug classes don't need this — once a drug's post-marketing commitments are fulfilled, the funding dries up. Melanoma checkpoint inhibitors, approved back in 2011–2014, have only 2 active Phase 4 studies running today. That wave is closed.
Multiple myeloma is different. The newest wave of treatments — bispecific antibodies and CAR-T therapies approved between 2021 and 2024 — has 19 active Phase 4 (post-marketing) studies running right now, sponsored directly by companies like Regeneron and Johnson & Johnson. That's a live, currently-open funding window, not a historical one.
And multiple myeloma has a natural precursor population — MGUS and smoldering myeloma — that patients live with under active monitoring for years before, if ever, progressing to disease requiring treatment. That's precisely the kind of long, chronic relationship our product is built for.
What we ruled out, and why
- Pancreatic cancer and cholangiocarcinoma — both have far more competing trials than our current beachhead, but both are aggressive with short median survival. A "keep your digital twin alive for years" product doesn't fit a disease that moves in months.
- Early-onset colorectal cancer — a real and growing problem, but currently only 16 active or upcoming trials. Less near-term pharma urgency than we needed for a first beachhead.
- Cancer survivorship broadly — a huge population (18M+ survivors in the US), but only 5 active trials right now. The need is real; the near-term funding signal isn't there yet.
Trial counts: ClinicalTrials.gov, live search, August 2026.
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