NEW YORK – Precede Biosciences on Thursday emerged from stealth mode to advance a blood-based platform that can detect the presence of cancer and other diseases and track dynamic changes in disease status in the context of treatment and other biological factors.
Supported by $57 million in funding secured since its inception, Precede has developed a genome-wide methodology that analyzes circulating chromatin to measure both methylation and gene promotion using a 1-mL plasma sample.
With the current research-use-only technology, the company aims to serve biopharma by identifying novel targets mechanistically linked to disease biology and measuring biological signals of response and resistance to treatment. In parallel, Precede is internally developing blood-based clinical tests to detect cancer and guide therapeutic decisions in oncology.
The firm was founded under the 4:59 Initiative at 5AM Ventures and supported in its seed round by both 5AM Ventures and Binney Street Capital of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where the company's technology was originally conceived. The company's Series A financing was co-led by 5AM Ventures and Lilly Asia Ventures with participation from Illumina Ventures, Bristol Myers Squibb, Osage University Partners, and Qatar Investment Authority.
Precede said it has already generated more than 7,000 genome-wide disease transcriptional profiles across cancers and numerous other conditions as part of its existing partnerships. Investigators plan to present their first public data in an oral presentation at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress 2023 later this month.
"Our platform is a true first for the field as it enables comprehensive profiling of dynamic disease-site biology at the gene and pathway level from a simple blood draw," Precede CEO and Cofounder Rehan Verjee said in a statement.