Lokavant has secured funding of $8m in a Series A extension round from global investment company Mitsui for expanding its AI clinical trial intelligence platform across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

Through this strategic investment from Mitsui, Lokavant is also set to establish a new headquarters for the APAC region in Tokyo, Japan.

The headquarters will function as a hub for supporting customers and operations in the region.

Prior investors including Edison Partners and Roivant Sciences also took part in the funding round.

To date, Lokavant has raised $29m in funding to develop its intelligence technology for various uses, ranging from trial subject diversity modelling to feasibility strategies for trial sites.

Pharmaceutical companies can improve the precision of trial planning and execution by leveraging the platform and analytical applications of Lokavant.

The company recently introduced a study planning solution to streamline trials.

Its Clinical Trial Intelligence Platform offers predictive analytics for sponsors and contract research organisations (CROs) in a continuous feedback cycle.

This approach can enhance the precision of subject enrolment prediction by up to 70 times.

The platform also helps save more than $1m in expenditures associated with participant retention and cutting down the time spent identifying trial site noncompliance problems by six months.

Lokavant CEO and co-founder Rohit Nambisan said: “Lokavant’s platform has driven significant value to pharmaceutical sponsors and CROs on global clinical trials and, with exceptional validation of the platform in Japan, it is a natural next step to launch Lokavant Asia. 

“With a distinguished track record in international business and a rapidly growing reputation in life sciences innovation, Mitsui & Co is the ideal strategic partner for the creation of Lokavant AsiaPac.”