DUBLIN – Thrive Earlier Detection Corp. and its academic and clinical collaborators have provided a first glimpse at the utility of a liquid biopsy test as a screening tool for picking up cancers in an asymptomatic population. In an interim one-year readout of data from the prospective five-year DETECT-A study in 10,000 women, an early version of Thrive’s Cancerseek test picked up 26 cancers ahead of standard-of-care screening, while the latter modality picked up another 24 cancers that Cancerseek missed.

Baltimore-based Lifesprout Inc., a Johns Hopkins University startup, said it has closed a $28.5 million series A financing. It is planning to use the proceeds to support clinical development of therapeutic products from its Regenerative Matrix platform. Redmile Group LLC led the round, with new institutional investors Nexus Management LP, Emerald Development Managers LP, and the Abell Foundation also joining.