Keeping innovation growing at a fast clip while retaining new global supply chain capacity built up during the pandemic were the main topics of discussion at the Bio Asia-Taiwan conference July 27 in Taipei. With the theme of the conference, “Connecting the Asia Value Chain,” Taiwan Vice President Ching-Te Lai said the pandemic has demonstrated Taiwan’s resilience as well as the strength of the global biopharma industry.
Oncologica Ltd. is expanding its testing service to include an at-home molecular immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibody allergy test. The Cambridge, U.K.-based precision medicine company said the new Allergyfocus test can detect 99% of globally known allergens from a finger prick blood sample. The IgE test provides a personalized antibody profile of allergy triggers such as different foods, pollen, mould or animals.
Type 2 diabetes is known to involve many different underlying mechanisms, but the considerable heterogeneity in the phenotype is mostly ignored in how it is treated. Now, researchers at University of Dundee, U.K., have developed a method for visualizing this heterogeneity and shown how the risks of complications, such as chronic kidney disease or peripheral neuropathy, differ by phenotypes.
Pangea Biomed Ltd. picked up $7 million in seed financing to fast-track development of its multicancer, multitherapy response predictor Enlight. The platform combines machine learning and RNA sequencing to map tumor molecular signatures and predict how different cancer types will respond to oncology drugs. Pangea said instead of using transcriptomic data, it is utilizing ‘unsupervised’ AI techniques that harvest information about gene interactions.
Neuron23 Inc. came out of stealth mode in late 2020 with a $113.5 million combined series A and B round to support its AI-enabled drug discovery effort aimed at bringing a precision medicine approach to neuroimmunology. Now it has added another $100 million in a series C financing as it gears up to move into clinical testing with lead programs targeting LRRK2 and TYK2.
U.K. health tech startup Sano Genetics Ltd. landed $11 million to develop a genetic data-sharing platform that connects patients with clinical researchers. MMC Ventures led the series A funding round, with Episode 1, Seedcamp and other individual investors participating.
Investors are backing precision medicine company Cancer IQ Inc. with $14 million to expand use of its cancer prevention platform. The series B funds will be used to scale the company’s cancer screening service among diverse, uninsured, and rural populations in the U.S.
Chinese company Seekin Inc. is preparing to launch its cancer detection technology in Europe after securing CE marking for the Seekincare pan-cancer test. The artificial intelligence, blood-based platform uses insights from public and private data to identify cancer DNA and protein signals in the blood. The test has been available in Chinese labs since 2018.
It’s no mystery why Scipher Medicine Corp. successfully raised $110 million in a series D financing round to further develop the company’s precision medicine platform. The company aims to address one of most modern medicine’s most challenging enigmas: how to eliminate the cost and adverse effects associated with the prescription of expensive medications that provide life-changing outcomes for some and no benefit for others. The new funds boost Scipher’s total funding to $227 million, of which $192 million has come into the Waltham, Mass.-based company’s coffers in the last 12 months.
Cancer diagnostics company Biofidelity Ltd. reported a $23 million series A+ investment round, led by Octopus Ventures with participation from SBI Investment Co. Ltd. and existing investors. Funds will be used for the commercial launch of the company’s first commercial assay Asypre-Lung. The oncology panel is designed to detect DNA mutations from tissue or liquid biopsy quicker than current approaches like gene sequencing.
