NEW YORK – Personal Genome Diagnostics said on Wednesday that it has raised $103 million in a Series C financing round, which it believes will allow broader access to and adoption of its Elio oncology next-generation sequencing (NGS) assays.
The Baltimore-based firm said that adding commercial and operational infrastructure will also support expansion of its pharma and biotechnology partnerships to identify novel cancer biomarker targets and develop biomarker-driven therapies.
PGDx's Elio Tissue Complete, a US Food and Drug Administration-cleared NGS test, identifies tumor alterations and informs treatment decisions for patients with advanced solid tumors. The firm's Elio Plasma Resolve liquid biopsy assay also uses NGS to identify single nucleotide variants, small indels, amplifications, rearrangements, and microsatellite instability in circulating cell-free DNA.
The financing round was led by Cowen Healthcare Investments and was joined by new and existing investors: Northpond Ventures, Vensana Capital, Rock Springs Capital, Kern Capital, Sands Capital, PFM Health Sciences, Windham Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Innovatus Capital Partners, and Catalio Capital Management.
"We remain committed to enabling the highest quality personalized molecular diagnostics performed locally, from academic medical centers to community hospitals in the US and in countries around the world," Megan Bailey, CEO of PGDx, said in a statement. "With this funding, we are confident PGDx will be able to maintain a leading position in the field of decentralized tumor profiling, a cornerstone of the future of precision oncology."
As part of the financing round, Kevin Raidy, managing partner of Cowen Healthcare Investments, and Lily Li, principal with Northpond Ventures, have joined PGDx's board of directors.
"PGDx's vision of enabling access to precision medicine for millions more patients and their demonstrated ability to execute commercially gives us a great deal of confidence in the company's future," Raidy said in a statement. "Meeting the significant market and patient need for this with the only regulated option represents a sizeable opportunity to drive growth, build shareholder value, and improve outcomes for cancer patients globally."
PGDx has partnered with several firms in recent months, including agreements with Qiagen and Almac Diagnostic Services in January to use its PGDx oncology products for clinical decision support and trial research, respectively. PGDX also inked a collaboration with Genosity in September to comarket the Elio Tissue Complete assay as part of Genosity's software platform and consulting services.