BioWorld International Correspondent

OncoGenome Sciences BV raised €14 million in its first financing round to progress its plan to develop a range of genomics-derived clinical testing services and diagnostic kits for the early detection of cancer.

The Liege, Belgium-based company was set up in November 2002 by a team who previously worked with Belgian firm Virco, now the Tibotec-Virco subsidiary of New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson. CEO Herman Spolders, formerly vice president of business development and operations at Virco, told BioWorld International that the new firm has access to Virco technology that has enabled OncoGenome to identify - using a combination of microarray-based screening and bioinformatics - a spectrum of cancer-associated biomarkers. The company's academic collaborators include Stephen Baylin, James Herman and David Sidransky from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

OncoGenome is focusing on lung, breast, colon and prostate cancer initially and plans to incorporate five to six markers in each of its tests, Spolders said. The aim is to detect disease earlier and with greater accuracy than current testing procedures. A clinical validation trial already is under way, he said.

The company's strategy, Spolders said, is based on transforming the world of cancer diagnostics from a low-cost, generic type of business into a high-value industry based on proprietary technology. It expects to start booking its first revenues about a year from now. Its plan also entails entry into therapeutics development "at a later date," he said.

OncoGenome Sciences has established a U.S. office in Durham, N.C., that will be responsible for managing clinical trials and business development. But for marketing products, it will look to partnererships, he said.

"We will not set up our own sales force," Spolders said.

Six investors participated in the transaction. The lead investor was Bank Brussels Lambert Private Equity, of Brussels, Belgium. Also participating were PolyTechnos Venture-Partners, of Munich, Germany; Life Sciences Partners, also of Munich; and Technowal SA, Meusinvest, and SIBL, all of Liege. The company has not disclosed its post-money valuation.