NEW YORK – UK point-of-care and home-use test developer Senzo said Thursday it raised $1.8 million in funding that will support development and commercialization of the firm's home-use and point-of-care lateral flow assays.
The London-based firm's CEO Jeremy Stackawtiz said in an email the proceeds from the funding round came from its existing investors, led by BioAdvance. The recent funding round brings the firm's equity financing total to $9.5 million.
Senzo plans to use the proceeds of the recent funding round to support product development, clinical studies, pursuit of US Food and Drug Administration regulatory approvals, and other business development activities as the firm looks for commercial and development partners.
Senzo is developing its Amplified Lateral Flow immunoassays for self-testing and point-of-care testing for a host of viral and bacterial infections as well as for veterinary, environmental, and industrial applications. The firm said its lateral flow assays deliver answers in 10 minutes with 99 percent concordance with PCR.
Stackawitz said in a statement that the firm's limit of detection is closer to that of current lateral flow assays and the market needs tests that give the same confidence to act on the results as lab-based PCR tests. The company website said study results have indicated the tests can identify positive results from samples with cycle threshold values of 30 and higher.