A Diagnostics & Imaging Week
BG Medicine (Waltham, Massachusetts), a company focused on the development of molecular diagnostics based on biomarkers to improve patient outcomes and contain healthcare costs, reported that it has raised $40 million in a Series D financing.
New investors Legg Mason Capital Management, GE Asset Management and SmallCap World Fund joined current investors Flagship Ventures, Gilde Healthcare Partners, Humana and Stelios Papadopoulos in the round.
The company said the funding will enable it to complete development and commercialization of its first two diagnostic products and continue discovery and development of additional product candidates.
"By applying the modern science of Systems Biology to important disease conditions and their treatments, BG Medicine is poised to significantly improve the information used to support vital medical decisions, and therefore facilitate the provision of better healthcare in terms of outcomes and cost," said Dr. Noubar Afeyan, co-founder and chairman of BG Medicine and managing partner of Flagship Ventures.
He added, "Building on investments made during the past five years in developing and validating our patented technology platforms, this round should accelerate the commercialization of our new tests and position BG Medicine as an early leader in the emerging Biomarker-Guided Medicine market."
Leerink Swann acted as a placement agent for the Series D shares.
BG is developing molecular diagnostic tests based on biomarkers that are intended to provide information to physicians that will improve patient treatment decisions.
The company's molecular diagnostic tests are designed to predict a patient's response to a drug therapy, determine the potential toxicity of therapeutic agents to patients, identify patients who have or are likely to develop a specific disease, predict a patient's prognosis once a disease has been diagnosed and monitor a patient's disease progression or drug response.