Some companies spend weeks on a single literature review, working with clunky legacy software to compile information and track citations. Three Duke University students decided to change that with Helian, an AI-powered literature review tool for the life sciences community.
John Buxton, Bill Ssewanyana and Aryan Mathur co-founded Helian last June to help companies in the life sciences space complete their literature reviews more effectively. The tool is boosted by AI but relies solely on human research and academic papers, said Buxton, a junior who leads sales and business development.
“We worked hand in hand with firms across life sciences to develop our tool, and we are now an AI-based literature review tool that is completely free of any risk of data hallucination,” Buxton said. “We keep the researchers’ expertise at the forefront of the literature review and use AI to supercharge their efficiency.”
The three students met at The Cube, an entrepreneurial club on Duke’s campus. Soon after they began their work on Helian, a biopharmaceutical hedge fund reached out for help with its literature review process, which led to the startup’s formation and first paying clients last summer.
Transparent solutions
The emergence of modern artificial intelligence was promising for life sciences research early on, but problems with data hallucination and incorrect information quickly rose to the forefront. In a field that deals with medicine and clinical trials, Helian’s co-founders realized those errors could cost lives.
Helian was designed with a source-first approach, asking clients which sources they use rather than relying on AI to find source material. From there, users can enable AI to filter, categorize, add tags and ask specific questions within the set of information.
Buxton said users can see what the AI tool is doing at all times.
“We give them the tools to be 10 times more efficient than they previously were using just normal methods, but throughout the entire time, keeping transparency of what the AI is doing at the forefront,” Buxton said. “So they can see all the information that’s going through our system and they know that they’re not missing out on the good stuff in any way.”
This approach ensures source material is peer-reviewed and up to research standards, Ssewanyana said.
“They need to make sure that the literature they’re reviewing is peer-reviewed and is going to be factual, and from a source they’re going to fully trust,” Ssewanyana said. “So we, as Helian, empower them—whether it’s through restricting it to fda.gov, clinicaltrials.gov, or whatever domains that they trust, then they are guaranteed that the answers they’re getting are specifically from those domains and nowhere else.”
Ssewanyana cites the example of making pancakes. If you ask a given AI how to make pancakes, it will spit out an amalgamation of information on batter, eggs and pans. If you ask Helian’s AI tool, it will respond with something like: ‘I do not know. There’s no context within the database generated that ties back to pancakes.’
Helian’s clients come from a variety of non-breakfast fields: Finance and consulting firms, pharmaceutical firms, academic researchers and doctors. The company profits off a B2B Saas model, offering free trials and paid monthly subscriptions at a rate of $100 per company headcount.
The startup also received $16,000 in non-dilutive grants from Duke University and is currently in the middle of a seed round. Another goal is to secure strategic early investment, connecting with advisors that can provide knowledge, guidance and support.
The team is part of the Melissa & Doug accelerator and had the opportunity to pitch alongside two other startups at the Duke Centennial celebration. More recently, Helian pitched at the Center for Entrepreneurial Development’s Venture Connect conference and the ACC InVenture Challenge.
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Startup: Helian
Co-Founders: John Buxton, Bill Ssewanyana, Aryan Mathur
Founded: 2024
Team size: 3
Location: Durham
Website: www.helian.ai
Funding: Non-dilutive grants; raising seed
The next step for Helian is to improve digital onboarding processes before publicly launching the company in May. Buxton said the team will continue seeking feedback on how to build the most effective tool possible.
“We have seen a lot of good feedback from people saying, ‘All right, this is really a useful tool,’” Buxton said. “And now our goal is to continue to get more customers that are on the platform, that are loving it, and expanding to as many firms in life sciences that we can help.”
Those who are interested in Helian’s platform are encouraged to visit the company on LinkedIn, or book a demo on their website.
