NEW YORK (360Dx) – Rapid point-of-care diagnostics firm POC Medical Systems today announced it raised $21 million in a Series A funding round.
The funds will go toward clinical beta testing and initial commercialization of a rapid, portable breast cancer screening test, MammoAlert, which is based on the firm's Pandora CDx microfluidics-based platform.
The blood-based test will enable breast cancer screening in regions where screening methods are not accessible to many woman, such as India where POC will initially launch MammoAlert.
The test provides results in 15 minutes and uses a mobile device to store data securely in a cloud, where it can be shared by healthcare providers. It detects multiple cancer biomarkers from a drop of blood using advanced CD microfluidics that are based on a low-cost microfluidic disk, POC said. An algorithm is applied to generate test results.
Sanjeev Saxena, a founder of the firm and currently its chairman and CEO, said that POC expects to receive CE marking for the test by March. The immediate priority is to create a pilot manufacturing plan at POC's headquarters in Livermore, California, and following CE marking, to launch the test.
POC was founded in May 2013.
The Series A round was led by BioVentures Investors. Sirius America Insurance, IFG Healthcare, and MIA Investment also participated in the funding.