What You Should Know:
– UK-based Biofidelity raises $12 million in Series A funding to accelerate the launch of disruptive cancer diagnostic technology.
– The funding will be used to bring technology to market,
enabling a dramatic simplification of precision genetic testing to ensure many
more cancer patients receive optimal diagnosis and therapy.
Biofidelity Ltd, a Cambridge,
UK-based cancer diagnostics company, today announced it has raised $12 million
in Series A funding led by BlueYard Capital and backed by experienced investors
including Longwall Ventures and Agilent Technologies, a global leader in life
sciences and diagnostics.
Founded in 2019, Biofidelity is initially focusing on the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer, with potential across a broad range of cancers as well as applications in the detection of resistance to therapy and disease recurrence.
Biofidelity’s disruptive technology combines fast, affordable, easy to interpret results, in order to dramatically simplify genetic testing while providing all the key benefits of next-generation sequencing (NGS). The Company estimates that 95% of cancer patients are currently excluded from NGS due to high cost, complexity, and slow turnaround times.
Biofidelity provides clinically actionable data based on ultra-sensitive detection of the markers recommended in cancer treatment guidelines, enabling oncologists to prescribe the right cancer drug at the right time to many more patients. Straightforward adoption of existing infrastructure is expected to greatly increase the number of laboratories able to offer superior cancer diagnostics.
Recent Traction
In January, Biofidelity announced the successful completion of a study to detect key lung cancer mutations in collaboration with Agilent Technologies. The collaboration, using an assay developed by Biofidelity, demonstrated an improvement in sensitivity of 50 times that achieved with current FDA-approved PCR-based diagnostics. This matched the sensitivity of specialized NGS assays, which require error-correction technology while providing a dramatic simplification of workflows from more than 100 steps to just four. Assays were performed using standard laboratory instrumentation, demonstrating the potential for straightforward adoption of Biofidelity’s panels in decentralized testing laboratories around the world.
The company plans to use the funding to accelerate the development and clinical validation of oncology panels for treatment selection and patient monitoring in oncology, and to bring these assays rapidly to market through direct sale, partnering, and collaboration.
