Owlstone Medical Announces $11.55M USD Fundraising
Published on: 6 Jan 2017
Investment will fund commercial launch of breath biomarker R&D services and clinical trials in lung and colon cancer screening
Cambridge, UK, 6 January 2017: Owlstone Medical Ltd, a diagnostics company developing a breathalyzer for disease, today announced that it has successfully raised $11.55 million USD (£9.3 million GBP) financing. The investment round was led by existing investors, and will be used to commercially launch the company’s breath biomarker R&D services, including the opening of a new high volume clinical facility, and to fund ongoing clinical trials in lung and colon cancer screening. The funding follows the original investment of $7 million (£4.9 million) that spun Owlstone Medical out in June 2016.
Owlstone Medical is leveraging proprietary and proven Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometry (FAIMS) technology in its disease breathalyzer product range. FAIMS measures volatile organic compound (VOC) metabolites in patient’s breath or bodily fluids which are specific to disease. Measurement of VOC biomarkers allows non-invasive diagnosis of disease at a very early stage, to enable more effective treatment and better patient outcomes.
Billy Boyle, co-founder and CEO at Owlstone Medical commented: “Securing this funding is further validation of our FAIMS technology and breath biopsy as a new diagnostic modality. We’ve made fantastic progress in our LuCID lung cancer trial, which will recruit up to 3,000 patients across 21 sites in the UK and Europe, making it the world’s largest breath-based study ever undertaken for early cancer detection. The commercial launch of our R&D services will, for the first time, allow clinical and pharma partners to easily identify breath biomarkers for novel diagnostics and precision medicine applications.”
Regius Professor Christofer Toumazou, advisor to Medtekwiz and Non-Executive Director of Owlstone Medical, said: “Owlstone Medical has made tremendous progress in clinical trials for the diagnosis of colon and lung cancer, which are two of the biggest cancer killers worldwide. I am delighted that with this additional investment we are a step closer to making breath biopsy a reality for patients.”
The potential of the technology to enable rapid detection of disease, without the need for costly, invasive medical procedures, has seen Owlstone Medical’s breath sampling and analysis technology recently named Invention of the Year in the 2017 Top 50 in Digital Health Awards. Hosted by Rock Health, Fenwick & West, Goldman Sachs, and Square 1 Bank in the run up to the J.P.Morgan Conference, the accolade recognizes exceptional progress in bringing technological advancements to healthcare.
Owlstone Medical will be attending the J.P. Morgan 35th Annual Healthcare Conference, 9 – 12 January 2017 in San Francisco.
To find out more about Owlstone Medical visit: www.owlstonemedical.com
ENDS
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About Owlstone Medical
Owlstone Medical has developed a breathalyzer for disease. With a focus on non-invasive diagnostics for cancer, infectious disease and inflammatory disease, the company aims to save 100,000 lives and $1.5B in health care costs by 2020.
The company’s microchip FAIMS (Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometer) sensor is a platform technology that can be programmed in software to detect targeted biomarkers of disease in breath (and other bodily fluids). FAIMS can be used in clinical diagnostics and precision medicine with application in cancer and a wide range of other medical conditions. Highly sensitive and selective, these tests allow for early diagnosis when treatments are more effective and where more lives can be saved.
Owlstone Medical is currently developing tests for lung and colorectal cancer, two of the most common cancer killers worldwide. The company also sells R&D tools and services to academic, clinical and pharma partners who want to develop breath based diagnostics for their own applications.
Founded in 2004 as a spin-out from the Engineering Department at the University of Cambridge, Owlstone Inc is a profitable business selling its proven FAIMS technology to military and industrial customers globally. Owlstone Medical was spun out from Owlstone Inc in 2016 to develop and commercialise FAIMS in diagnostic applications.
Owlstone Medical is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, with offices in London, UK.
About Medtekwiz Advisory
Medtekwiz is a private investment fund that invests in companies developing and commercializing disruptive medical technologies. With an advisory office in London, the Fund represents a network of pioneering entrepreneurs and world class business leaders that invest internationally.
