LONDON – Med-tech investor Endeavour Vision reported the final close of its Medtech Growth II fund at $375 million. The fund will invest in commercial stage companies with products that advance the standard of care or bring efficiencies to how health care systems operate. That strategy is expected to result in two-thirds of the money going into device companies and the remainder to digital health specialists.
Agilent Technologies Inc. will acquire Resolution Bioscience Inc. for $550 million in cash at closing and up to an additional $145 million based on performance milestones. The deal will expand Agilent’s cancer diagnostics offerings and its presence in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology for the fast-growing precision medicine market. The acquisition is expected to close in April 2021.
Twenty years to the month after the completion of the draft sequence of the human genome, the Human Genome Project and follow-on projects like The Cancer Genome Atlas are underpinning advances in precision medicine.
Mckesson Corp. has brought together several oncology organizations, life sciences companies, and patient advocacy groups to increase understanding of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and leverage targeted therapies to improve outcomes. The Molecularly Informed Lung Cancer Treatment in a Community Cancer Network: A Pragmatic Consortium (MYLUNG) study will observe and analyze 12,000 community-based, metastatic NSCLC patients to learn more about barriers to molecular testing for targeted therapies, how those therapies are being used, and to expand opportunities for participation in clinical trials.
Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cell capture startup Deepcell Inc. scooped up $20 million in a series A round led by Bow Capital. The funds are earmarked for developing the company’s microfluidics-based technology, building out a cell morphology atlas of more than 400 million cells and advancing a hypothesis-free approach to cell classification and sorting.
The Lung Cancer Genomic Screening Project for Individualized Medicine in Asia (LC-SCRUM-Asia) has partnered with Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. to speed molecular profiling in two major studies. The project now uses Waltham, Mass.-based Thermo Fisher’s Ion Torrent Genexus system and Oncomine Precision assay as the sole system for conducting next-generation sequencing (NGS) to improve personalization of therapeutic approaches and better understand drug resistance in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLS).
Rarecyte Inc., a Seattle-based company making products for tissue and cell analysis, reported picking up $22 million in a series F financing round led by Healthquest Capital.
Rarecyte Inc., a Seattle-based company making products for tissue and cell analysis, reported picking up $22 million in a series F financing round led by Healthquest Capital. Also participating in the round were existing investors 5AM Ventures and Ron Seubert, Rarecyte’s founder and chief technology officer. The company plans to use the funds to expand global sales of its instruments and consumables platform in research clinical markets.
Chinese researchers have developed the first green tea-triggered genetic control system for future gene- and cell-based precision medicine applications, and then used it to treat diabetes in mice and monkeys, they reported in the Oct. 23, 2019, issue of Science Translational Medicine.
Tenaya Therapeutics Inc. CEO Faraz Ali told BioWorld that the company, which raised $92 million in a series B round, has programs from three cardiac platforms "stacked on top of each other" and wants to enter the clinic by the end of 2021 "with at least one of the multiple projects we're advancing." The South San Francisco-based firm wanted not to "let resources be the barrier" as to which goes first, he said. "We wanted the science to dictate that."
