A Medical Device Daily

Allegro Diagnostics (Boston), a developer of molecular diagnostics for lung cancer, reported completing a $4 million Series A financing.

Kodiak Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Catalyst Health Ventures and Boston University.

Allegro said it will develop products based on gene expression technology developed by Jerome Brody, MD and Avrum Spira, MD, MSc within the Pulmonary Center at the Boston University School of Medicine. Jerome Brody, MD, formerly head of the Pulmonary Center, has joined Allegro as its chief scientific officer.

The Series A financing will enable us to take our first product, based on intellectual property developed at the Boston University School of Medicine, into the clinic to provide earlier, more accurate diagnosis of suspected lung cancer for patients and their doctors, said Dan Rippy, president/CEO of Allegro. The clinical community considers earlier identification of lung cancer a major unmet need in treating the disease so our diagnostic should provide significant benefit.

In conjunction with the financing, Andrey Zarur, general partner with Kodiak Venture Partners, and Josh Phillips, general partner with Catalyst Health Ventures, joined the company s board.

Allegro opens a novel alternative to assist physicians in diagnosing and potentially treating lung cancer, said Zarur, who became chairman of the company as part of this round of financing.

According to the American Cancer Society (Atlanta), more than 200,000 new cases of lung cancer are diagnosed each year in the U.S., and more than 160,000 deaths occur annually from the disease.

While lung cancer can be cured by surgery if caught in the early stages, 65%-80% of lung cancer patients present with late stage disease. The five-year survival rate for lung cancer patients is roughly 15%, a rate that has remained unchanged for several decades.