13. Lindus Health: clinical trial software to make developing treatments trial-free

Founders: Michael Young, Meri Beckwith, and Nik Haldimann
Year founded: 2021
Website: lindushealth.com

Fleming and penicillin. Jenner and smallpox. Kariko, Weissman and the COVID vaccine. Throughout history, the UK has led the world in drug development. But while medicinal innovation is everywhere, clinical trials have failed to keep up. 

Funding is not the issue. The latest report published by the Office for Life Sciences shows that at £9bn in 2022, pharmaceutical R&D spend is the highest of any sector. Yet clinical trials continue to stall due to bottlenecks within Contract Research Organisations (CROs).

Lindus Health describes itself as the ‘anti-CRO’ stepping in to fix a broken system and ensure a standardised, digital approach to clinical research. 

Its flagship product is Citrus (named for James Lind, who discovered that citrus fruit could cure scurvy). It’s a software that provides data capture and delivery tools, automating many tasks that can drain resources, such as screening participants and setting up appointments. 

Not forgetting the human touch, Lindus Health also provides an in-house team who works directly with pharma clients to streamline trials. Crucially, the result is an all-in-one solution that is also end-to-end, rather than cobbling together multiple stakeholders and sponsors. 

“We felt we could only deliver transformationally better outcomes if we were in charge of a trial end-to-end,” says founder Meri Beckwith. “Showing that we can run entire clinical trials radically faster and producing higher quality data was the sole focus for the first year.” 

Since appearing in the Startups 100 Index last year, Lindus Health has now enrolled over 20,000 patients in clinical trials. In many cases, these trials provided access to treatments that patients wouldn’t otherwise have had the opportunity to use.

We felt we could only deliver transformationally better outcomes if we were in charge of a trial end-to-end.

Having proven its concept, and brought on board several impressive clients and investors, the next step in Lindus Health’s five-year plan is to become the default choice for any company looking to bring a new drug or health treatment to market. 

That company mission has huge potential to modernise medicine trials and bring life-saving drugs and devices to market faster. That’s why we’re naming Lindus Health a top 100 startup for 2025; the business fixing the biggest public health issue you didn’t know about.