Transforming Real-world Evidence: How Verana Health Is Advancing AI-Powered Clinical Evidence

Sujay Jadhav, Chief Executive Officer, Verana Health, in conversation with Nitin Naik, Associate Partner, Frost & Sullivan, and Unmesh Lal, Vice President, Frost & Sullivan

Download this Transformational Growth Leadership Discussion with Sujay Jadhav

The life sciences industry is entering a new era where real-world evidence (RWE), artificial intelligence, and large-scale clinical datasets are transforming how pharmaceutical companies design trials, evaluate therapies, and deliver treatments to patients. Regulatory agencies and biopharmaceutical organizations are increasingly recognizing the value of high-quality real-world data (RWD) in supporting clinical development, regulatory submissions, and commercialization strategies.

In this Transformational Growth Leadership discussion, Sujay Jadhav, CEO of Verana Health, explains how the company is leveraging physician-validated specialty datasets, AI-powered analytics, and strategic medical society partnerships to generate clinically rich real-world evidence. He also discusses how Verana Health’s recent merger with COTA expands its ability to support pharmaceutical companies across multiple therapeutic areas while delivering deeper insights into patient journeys and treatment outcomes.

“Pharmaceutical leaders who integrate AI, machine learning, and large-scale data analytics into clinical development today will define how the next generation of therapies is discovered, tested, and delivered to patients. Those who cling to legacy workflows and underutilized data will quickly lose ground in an increasingly AI-powered industry”

— Sujay Jadhav, CEO, Verana Health

The Growing Strategic Importance of Real-world Evidence

Nitin Naik: Sujay, thank you for joining me today. Let’s start with the transformative trends in real-world evidence. What are the key market dynamics creating new opportunities for Verana Health, particularly following your recent merger with COTA?

Sujay Jadhav: We are at a very exciting inflection point in healthcare data and real-world evidence. Regulatory bodies, particularly the FDA, and leading pharmaceutical sponsors have moved beyond skepticism regarding real-world evidence. There is now strong recognition that high-quality RWE can materially improve regulatory submissions and accelerate time to market for life-saving therapies.

Verana Health’s strategic advantage in this environment is multifaceted. Our exclusive partnerships with leading medical societies, such as the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s IRIS Registry and the American Urological Association’s AQUA Registry, provide access to physician-validated, clinically rich datasets that meet the rigor required for regulatory-grade evidence.

Our merger with COTA in January significantly expanded our capabilities. Through this integration, we now offer a multi-specialty portfolio spanning ophthalmology, urology, neurology, and oncology. COTA contributed high-fidelity oncology datasets from more than 30 academic medical centers, expanding our accessible oncology patient population to over 10 million patients.

This combination positions Verana Health as a comprehensive partner for pharmaceutical companies working across some of the most important therapeutic areas.

Leveraging AI to Transform Clinical Data into Actionable Insights

Nitin Naik: Can you share examples of how customers are experiencing the VeraQ™ and Qdata™ platforms, and how those experiences are shaping your innovation roadmap?

Sujay Jadhav: VeraQ™ is our AI-enhanced population health data engine and forms the technological backbone of our platform. It normalizes, harmonizes, and curates data from disparate electronic health record sources, applying natural language processing and large language models to convert complex clinical data into research-ready insights.

Our Qdata™ products represent disease-specific, research-ready modules rather than generic datasets. This reflects a broader shift in the industry from focusing on data volume toward prioritizing high-quality data combined with advanced analytics.

For example, we recently introduced new Qdata™ variables for corneal staining in Dry Eye Disease and diplopia in Thyroid Eye Disease. Customers have told us that these research-ready datasets provide insights into disease progression and treatment effectiveness that traditional research methods cannot easily generate.

Looking ahead, we are expanding beyond pure data-as-a-service offerings into SaaS applications and insights-driven research partnerships with pharmaceutical companies. Our goal is to support decision-making across the entire pharmaceutical lifecycle, from early clinical development through commercialization and market expansion.

Connecting Specialty Data to Reveal the Full Patient Journey

Unmesh Lal: How does your specialty-specific data strategy support cross-therapeutic patient journey analysis, particularly in oncology?

Sujay Jadhav: The industry is moving away from one-size-fits-all datasets toward disease-specific, fit-for-purpose data modules. The merger with COTA creates a unique opportunity for Verana Health to deliver an integrated view of the patient journey.

For example, patients with genitourinary cancers often begin treatment in urology clinics but later transition into medical oncology settings as their disease progresses. Historically, real-world data providers could capture only one part of this journey, either urology data or oncology data, but not both.

In February 2026, we launched industry-first end-to-end urologic oncology datasets for bladder and prostate cancer. These datasets integrate longitudinal data from both urology and oncology practices, enabling a comprehensive view of patient progression across care settings.

For bladder cancer, this includes critical data elements such as tumor stage, focality, grade, and response. For prostate cancer, we track disease evolution from hormone-sensitive stages to hormone-resistant and metastatic disease.

This integrated view is extremely valuable for regulatory submissions, market access decisions, and commercialization strategies.

Technology Differentiation in the Real-world Data Ecosystem

Nitin Naik: As real-world data is increasingly used for commercialization and health technology assessment, what differentiates Verana’s technology from competitors?

Sujay Jadhav: Our differentiation is built around four integrated layers.

First, we offer best-in-class specialty datasets through exclusive partnerships with leading medical societies and access to high-quality oncology datasets through COTA.

Second, we deliver regulatory-grade evidence supported by extensive regulatory expertise and experience working with the FDA.

Third, our datasets undergo physician validation. Practicing clinicians review data definitions and clinical algorithms to ensure they reflect real-world clinical practice.

Fourth, we offer integrated clinical trial solutions through tools such as Trial Connect and Site Explorer. These platforms bridge real-world evidence with prospective clinical trials by helping sponsors identify optimal trial sites and improving communication between sponsors, CROs (Contract Research Organizations), and medical practices.

Together, these capabilities provide pharmaceutical companies with a comprehensive view of the patient journey while supporting both clinical development and commercial decision-making.

Advancing Partnerships with Medical Societies

Unmesh Lal: What’s next for Verana’s approach to building partnerships with medical societies?

Sujay Jadhav: Our partnerships with medical societies are strategic collaborations focused on advancing research and improving patient outcomes. Physicians contribute de-identified patient data because they want to advance research within their specialties.

We apply AI-driven analytics to generate insights that inform both pharmaceutical development and clinical practice. These insights ultimately flow back to physicians through quality improvement initiatives and to patients through improved therapies and treatment protocols.

We have also expanded our MIPS Advisory Services for ophthalmology practices, helping physicians maximize incentive payments while reducing administrative burdens. This allows clinicians to spend more time focusing on patient care.

The Future of Real-world Evidence in Life Sciences

Nitin Naik: What excites you most about the future of the industry and Verana Health’s role in shaping it?

Sujay Jadhav: We are at a true inflection point. As automation expands across the pharmaceutical value chain, organizations will increasingly seek partners capable of delivering integrated insights from multiple data sources, including real-world data, genomic data, medical imaging, and pathology.

Companies that can combine these diverse datasets and extract clinically meaningful insights will lead the industry forward.

Verana Health’s strategy is built around becoming that integrated partner. Recognition as an innovation leader in Frost & Sullivan’s Life Sciences Real-world Evidence Solutions Frost Radar^TM validates this direction.

The COTA merger has been transformational for us. It strengthens our ability to support pharmaceutical companies across the entire development lifecycle while delivering trusted, research-ready evidence for clinical and regulatory decision-making.

Vision for the Next Phase of Growth

Nitin Naik: What are Verana Health’s aspirational growth goals over the next three years?

Sujay Jadhav: Over the next three years, we aim to establish Verana Health as the leading real-world data and insights partner for the pharmaceutical industry.

By combining trusted datasets across therapeutic areas with AI-powered applications and intelligent analytics, we aim to accelerate clinical development while helping healthcare providers improve patient care quality, simplify compliance, and reduce operational complexity.

Closing Reflection: Unlocking the Power of Real-world Data

The life sciences industry is rapidly embracing the value of real-world data as a foundational capability for modern drug development and healthcare innovation. Advances in artificial intelligence, analytics, and data integration are enabling organizations to extract deeper insights from complex clinical datasets.

Verana Health’s approach, combining physician-validated specialty datasets, advanced AI-driven analytics, and strategic partnerships with medical societies, demonstrates how real-world evidence can accelerate clinical discovery while improving patient outcomes.

As regulatory acceptance of RWE continues to grow and pharmaceutical innovation becomes increasingly data-driven, organizations that can integrate high-quality datasets with advanced analytics will play a critical role in shaping the future of life sciences.

Sujay Jadhav is the Chief Executive Officer of Verana Health, where he is responsible for advancing the company’s growth and sustainability strategy across clinical trials, data-as-a-service offerings, and medical society partnerships. Prior to joining Verana Health, Sujay served as Global Vice President of the Health Sciences Business Unit at Oracle, leading product and engineering teams across the organization. Earlier in his career, he was CEO of the clinical research platform goBalto, which was acquired by Oracle, and an executive at Model N, where he helped guide the company through its transition to becoming a public company. Sujay holds an MBA from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering from the University of South Australia.

Unmesh Lal has over 20 years of experience in healthcare strategy and consulting, with a focus on global life sciences, pharmaceutical services, and precision health. He works with biopharma sponsors and Contract Development and Manufacturing Organizations (CDMOs) to identify transformative technologies, evaluate emerging modalities, and optimize outsourcing strategies across the pharmaceutical contract services and manufacturing ecosystem. A recognized thought leader in contract development and manufacturing, he has authored industry insights and presented at global forums including J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, CPhI, World Bioprocessing Summit, Biotech Outsourcing Strategies CMC, and BIO-Asia. Unmesh holds a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor.

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Annexure: Advancing AI-driven Real-world Evidence in Life Sciences

As pharmaceutical development becomes increasingly data-driven, life sciences organizations are expanding their use of real-world data (RWD), artificial intelligence, and advanced analytics to generate regulatory-grade real-world evidence (RWE). These capabilities are enabling deeper insights into patient journeys, treatment effectiveness, and disease progression while supporting regulatory submissions, market access decisions, and commercialization strategies.

To support organizations navigating this evolving landscape, Frost & Sullivan provides forward-looking intelligence across real-world evidence platforms, AI-enabled healthcare analytics, and data-driven pharmaceutical innovation, including:

📌 Frost Radar™: Artificial Intelligence-enabled Clinical Trials

📌 Frost Radar™: Life Sciences Real-world Evidence Solutions

Together, these analyses reinforce the central themes explored in this Transformational Growth Leadership discussion: AI-powered data platforms, physician-validated datasets, and integrated patient journey insights that are reshaping how life sciences organizations generate evidence and accelerate innovation.