Why WELLTRUST could be huge for WELL Health Technologies

WELL Health Technologies (WELL Health Technologies Stock Quote, Chart, News, Analysts, Financials TSX:WELL) and HealWELL AI’s WELLTRUST platform has surpassed 100,000 patient consents across WELL’s clinic network, a milestone Stifel analyst Justin Keywood says shows early traction for the AI-enabled clinical research and patient recruitment program.

In a Sept. 8 update, Keywood said the milestone represents average enrollment of about 15,000 patients per month since WELLTRUST launched in late February. The longer-term goal is to reach one million patients.

WELLTRUST combines WELL’s clinic network, HealWELL’s DARWEN AI patient analytics platform and WELLSTAR’s OceanMD patient engagement tools.

Keywood said the program gives HealWELL a larger patient pool to match eligible patients with clinical trials for life sciences companies, clinical research organizations and biopharma sponsors.

Patients enroll through OceanMD’s clinic check-in tools, with consent recorded in their electronic medical record. DARWEN then analyzes consented patient records to identify potential matches for clinical trials and research programs.

Keywood said patient recruitment remains a major bottleneck and cost driver in drug development, creating a potential opportunity for AI-based patient matching.

The analyst said WELLTRUST could become a high-margin recurring revenue stream for the WELL ecosystem, though the company has not disclosed its monetization model.

Keywood said the most likely structure would be sponsor or CRO fees for access to WELLTRUST’s matching capability, rather than a fee-per-patient referral model, given Canadian privacy rules.

He estimates WELLTRUST could give WELL and HealWELL access to a US$1-billion to US$2-billion market opportunity in AI patient recruitment.

Disclosure: WELL is an annual sponsor of Cantech and Nick Waddell owns shares of the company

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