NEW YORK – AI precision medicine firm Tempus said Thursday that it has raised $200 million in a new Series G2 financing round, which will help expand the company's operations and establish activities in new disease areas including infectious diseases, depression, and cardiology.
Investors in the round included Baillie Gifford, Franklin Templeton, Google, Novo Holdings, and funds and accounts managed by T. Rowe Price. The new raise brings the firm's total financing to approximately $1.05 billion.
In a separate announcement, Tempus unveiled a collaboration with Bayer, aimed at broadening access to genomic testing and tailored treatment approaches in oncology. Bayer will cover the cost of testing under the program, which may expand in the future, but will initially employ the 648-gene Tempus xT broad-panel genomic sequencing assay in certain patients with metastatic colorectal cancer and radioactive iodine refractory differentiated metastatic thyroid carcinoma that could carry NTRK gene fusions.
"This strategic collaboration aims to provide eligible colorectal and thyroid cancer patients with broad-based access to our genomic test to help their physicians make treatment decisions," Ryan Fukushima, Chief Operating Officer of Tempus, said in a statement.
NTRK gene fusions, which drive tumor growth and metastasis, are present in approximately 3 percent of patients with mCRC with prior high microsatellite instability (MSI-H) status, and in 2.4 percent to 12 percent of patients with RAIR thyroid cancers.
Bayer received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration in October for the NTRK-targeted drug Larotrectinib (marketed as Vitrakvi), with Foundation Medicine's FoundationOne CDx test named as a companion diagnostic.
The pharma firm has engaged in other similar NTRK-focused diagnostic partnerships, including a deal with Canadian diagnostics firm LifeLabs, in which it agreed to cover the full cost of genetic testing for NTRK fusions regardless of patients' insurance status, test results, or treatment decisions through the end of 2021.