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RefinedScience
RefinedScience uses single-cell resolution and real patient tissue to validate oncology targets for pharma — making biology the differentiator.
RefinedScience
RefinedScience was formed as a joint venture between the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and UCHealth, combining academic research depth with the operational posture of a commercial drug development partner. The firm is led by clinical and scientific co-founders who built its platform around one structural insight: the gap between preclinical promise and Phase II failure is biological, and closing it requires clinically-linked, single-cell datasets that external vendors cannot replicate. Its institutional positioning provides unified access to UCHealth longitudinal records, biobank specimens, and EHR data linked to biological samples across AML, MDS, PDAC, ovarian, esophageal, glioblastoma, and DLBCL. The firm operates four integrated capabilities — single-cell resolution, linked patient data, real human tissue testing, and tumor-initiating cell biology — deployed across discovery, translational validation, and clinical development. Its deepest indication is AML, where a longitudinal dataset covering 300-plus venetoclax/azacitidine-treated patients with CITE-seq data is now available on the Verily Exchange. Confirmed pharma services include translational and clinical operations support for a Phase II cusatuzumab study in AML, single-cell profiling that enabled patient enrichment for a targeted AML therapy, and a propensity-matched analysis for ImCheck Therapeutics that contributed to an FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation application and the company's subsequent acquisition by Ipsen. RefinedScience lists a multidisciplinary team spanning biostatistics, data science, hematology, oncology, and precision medicine. In October 2025, Verily announced a multi-year collaboration with UCHealth, CU Anschutz, and RefinedScience to build AI-ready biomedical data pipelines; an initial project demonstrated 95 percent-plus accuracy and 30x faster data extraction from AML patient records versus manual methods. Adjacent activities include an ADC discovery program for AML backed by surface antigen mapping, primary tissue models, and initial IP filings. Structurally, RefinedScience is neither a pure CRO nor a typical biotech — it is an institutionally embedded biology partner that monetizes through pharma R&D services while advancing a proprietary pipeline anchored by OncoVerity's Phase II AML asset. That hybrid architecture means its commercial value scales with the depth of its disease-specific datasets, not headcount, and its access to tissue and clinical infrastructure resets the starting point for academic-industry translation.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Europe
Country
Netherlands
City
Aurora
Corporate office
Breda, Aurora, Netherlands
Principals
Dan Pollyea
Co-founder / Clinical lead
Clay Smith
Co-founder / Scientific lead
Brett Atwood
Leadership team
Grant Weller
Leadership team
Jeff Weness
Leadership team
Mike McGarry
Leadership team
Sarah Staggs
Leadership team
Kent Riemondy
Leadership team
Nazmul Islam
Leadership team
Brett Stevens
Leadership team
Max Calao
Leadership team
Mike Boyiadzis
Leadership team
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who controls investment and strategic decisions at RefinedScience?
RefinedScience operates as a joint venture between CU Anschutz and UCHealth. Its strategic direction is set by a multidisciplinary leadership team that includes clinical co-founder Dan Pollyea, scientific co-founder Clay Smith, and executives with backgrounds in pharma, data science, and precision medicine. Investment decisions are constrained by the JV structure — institutional governance rather than a single-family or GP-led model.
How does RefinedScience source its proprietary data advantage?
The firm's institutional position as a joint venture between CU Anschutz and UCHealth gives it unified access to UCHealth longitudinal patient records, biobank specimens, and EHR data linked to biological samples. This tissue-to-data chain cannot be replicated through commercial data-licensing agreements, because it includes the clinical infrastructure and patient consent architecture of a major academic medical center.
Is RefinedScience an AI company or a biology company?
RefinedScience describes itself as biology-first. Its proprietary software tools — scExploreR, Marksman, Scout, and PULSE — support AI-powered analysis, but the firm's structural advantage is single-cell resolution of clinically annotated human tissue, not algorithms. The value proposition is better-validated biology entering the clinic, with AI serving as an analytical layer rather than the product.
What is RefinedScience's relationship to OncoVerity?
OncoVerity is RefinedScience's proprietary pipeline asset with a Phase II program in AML. RefinedScience delivered full clinical operations support for OncoVerity, including 500-plus correlative-science assays in under five months, while maintaining its separate pharma-services business. This structure allows the firm to generate near-term revenue from pharma partnerships while building long-term asset value.
How does RefinedScience engage with pharma partners — services, milestones, or co-development?
Engagements are structured around the biology problem a partner needs to solve rather than a fixed service catalog. The firm supports discovery, translational validation, and clinical development, and its ADC partnering program explicitly seeks co-development arrangements where RefinedScience contributes target biology and patient stratification while the pharma partner brings ADC platform capabilities or clinical infrastructure.
Which oncology indications does RefinedScience have the deepest data in?
AML is the firm's deepest indication, with longitudinal clinical data on 300-plus venetoclax/azacitidine-treated patients and CITE-seq single-cell profiles now available on the Verily Exchange. The firm also has single-cell omics and clinical datasets in MDS, PDAC, ovarian cancer, esophageal cancer, glioblastoma, and DLBCL — each built disease-by-disease to a depth that supports target discovery and patient stratification.
How is RefinedScience funded, and does it take outside investment?
RefinedScience was established as a joint venture between CU Anschutz and UCHealth, which provides its institutional funding foundation and clinical infrastructure. The firm generates operating revenue through pharma R&D service engagements. It does not publicly disclose AUM or external fundraising rounds, and its website frames growth as driven by partnership economics and proprietary pipeline value rather than venture capital.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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