Steve Sanghera on Inventus, Purpose-Built Trial Devices & Why Someone Must Obsess Over the Rivets | Pharma Prescribed
Steve Sanghera — CEO of Inventus — joins Adam Walker for a conversation about purpose-built clinical trial devices, global connectivity and why this industry needs someone obsessing over the rivets.
Steve came from mobile telecoms and finance. During COVID, a lost contract with Motorola led to a question: who needs this many devices? The answer was clinical trials. Half a million devices later, Inv...
Steve Sanghera on Inventus, Purpose-Built Trial Devices & Why Someone Must Obsess Over the Rivets | Pharma Prescribed
Steve Sanghera — CEO of Inventus — joins Adam Walker for a conversation about purpose-built clinical trial devices, global connectivity and why this industry needs someone obsessing over the rivets.
Steve came from mobile telecoms and finance. During COVID, a lost contract with Motorola led to a question: who needs this many devices? The answer was clinical trials. Half a million devices later, Inventus is the only dedicated clinical data plan operator in life sciences — carrier-agnostic connectivity across 135 countries, purpose-built hardware for patients and sites, and zero tolerance for the kind of failure rates consumer tech accepts.
His sister was diagnosed with MS at 19. She's 42 now, in a wheelchair. Inventus wasn't built because of that — but it drives everything Steve does today.
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📖 WHAT WE COVER
- The Motorola loss that became the founding story of Inventus
- 500,000 devices deployed globally — zero consumer returns
- One world, one device: purpose-built for clinical trials, not repurposed consumer tech
- The only clinical data plan operator: 450 carriers, 135 countries, no SIM cards
- BYOD vs provisioned: why bring your own device is a cost saving, not a solution
- Designing for Doris from Texas: 85, not tech savvy, possibly impaired
- 586 languages on every device — four times more than any competitor
- The rivets analogy: everyone builds the plane, Inventus provides the rivets
- Service excellence with zero tolerance for failure in clinical trials
- His sister's MS diagnosis at 19 — and declining every trial offered
- The stigma around clinical trials and why it still stops families
- 70 employees, offices in UK, EU, China, Hong Kong and the US
- AstraZeneca's David Loughborough joining as Chief Strategy Officer
- Inventus 2.0: AI, connected health and preventative care roadmap
- "Build a business I can't run anymore" — that means success
⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction & podcast mission
1:00 Meet Steve Sanghera — CEO of Inventus
2:00 Lockdown, Motorola and the accidental entry into clinical trials
4:00 Purpose-built devices: why consumer tech doesn't work
5:00 One world, one device — and the ecosystem behind it
6:00 Patients, sites and sponsors: the three pillars
8:00 BYOD vs provisioned — cost saving vs real solution
9:00 Half the cost, full the value
10:00 The clinical data plan operator: 450 carriers, 135 countries
12:00 One product accessed globally — no SIM cards
13:00 Service excellence: every client and key hire comes via referral
14:00 Zero percent failure tolerance vs consumer 3-5%
15:00 Regulation, compliance and learning the language of life sciences
17:00 The biggest challenge: finding someone who cares about the rivets
18:00 The rivets analogy: protecting $1.6 billion per trial
20:00 Designing for Doris: user interface, font size, 586 languages
22:00 NHS app frustrations and simplifying complexity
24:00 From five people to 70 — three UK offices, EU, China, US
25:00 New leadership: COO, CSO from AstraZeneca, CPO from BT
27:00 "Our accountant joined us — that tells you the numbers are real"
28:00 His sister's MS diagnosis at 19 and the trials they declined
30:00 Clinical trial stigma and what must change
32:00 AI: don't jump on it, mould it for clinical trials
34:00 Inventus 2.0: building the oven, figuring out how to cook
37:00 "Build a business I can't run anymore"
38:00 The All Blacks: leaving the shirt in a better place
39:00 Quick-fire: should have started earlier
40:00 Integrity, loyalty, hard work — and shopping
41:00 Golden rule: be honest and transparent
👤 ABOUT STEVE SANGHERA
CEO of Inventus. Purpose-built clinical trial devices and the only dedicated clinical data plan operator in life sciences.
🌐 Search "Inventus clinical trials" or "Steve Sanghera" on LinkedIn
🎙️ ABOUT PHARMA PRESCRIBED
Long-form conversations with leaders in clinical research, digital health and mental wellbeing, hosted by Adam Walker.
🌐 https://pharmaprescribed.com
💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-walker-2327951/
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