Belfast-based cancer diagnostics company GenoME Diagnostics has closed a £1.4 million funding round which will be used to further develop its lead product OvaME, a novel blood test for earlier and more accurate detection of ovarian cancer.
The company successfully raised a pre-seed round of £300,000 in 2021 which it used to progress OvaME through technical, commercial and regulatory milestones.
This new £1.4 million funding round will allow the team to complete the testing phase, file for EU regulatory approval and expand its regulatory approach to the UK and North America.
It will also allow the GenoME team to extend their novel technology to additional cancer types and enable them to consider further research into additional disease areas.
The funding round was supported by QUBIS, the commercialisation arm of Queen’s University, Co-Fund NI (managed by Clarendon Fund Managers) and Deepbridge Capital.
The round also includes an additional £500,000 InnovateUK Biomedical Catalyst grant for a project in collaboration with QUB, which will be used to continue the development of a novel blood test for earlier detection of additional cancer types.
As GenoME Diagnostics progresses towards market entry, the company will be looking to expand their team with the recruitment of sales and marketing staff, as well as additional laboratory scientists.
Dr Shannon Beattie, CEO of GenoME Diagnostics said:
“At GenoME, we are aiming to improve patient survival and quality of life through affordable and highly accurate tests. This is a significant funding round for us and will help to further develop these life-changing products.
“Currently, a large proportion of ovarian cancer cases are caught at the later stages of the disease, so patients unfortunately have a very poor survival rate. Cancers detected at an earlier stage provide much more opportunity for intervention and improve patient survival.
“Milestones like these will be pivotal in opening conversations with public health bodies and allowing the team to progress our tests further to market. Our ultimate long-term ambition is to eventually enter public screening programmes, however our first market is disease monitoring and diagnosis.”
Chris Mosedale, Chief Business Officer of GenoME Diagnostics said:
“The pipeline we have used to develop our ovarian test can be applied to a wide range of diseases and applications, even beyond cancer. There is very strong evidence that our technology could be used to diagnose other cancers and illnesses. This funding round will enable us to research and test this assumption further, improving the chances for more cancer patients.”
Stuart Gaffikin, Investment Manager at Clarendon Fund Managers, said:
“Co-Fund NI is really pleased to be supporting this investment into GenoME to help its team with the development of a potentially life-changing technology. We hope this investment will help the company reach the next phase of development as it seeks to improve the diagnosis process for cancer patients.”
Anne Dornan, Enterprise Manager at QUBIS, added:
“This is an important milestone for GenoME, and QUBIS is excited to be supporting the company through its next stages of development, working alongside our investment partners and building on a great team.”
Ben Carter, Head of Life Sciences at Deepbridge Capital, added:
“GenoME is a great example of the type of innovative company that the funding via UK’s Enterprise Investment Scheme is designed to support. We are delighted to be collaborating with QUBIS, Clarendon and InnovateUK to provide GenoME with the funding and resources required to take their next commercial and scientific steps; which ultimately could save and improve lives.”
About GenoME Diagnostics
The Queen’s University spin-out is built on over a decade of academic research at the Patrick G Johnston Centre for Cancer Research by founders Prof Paul Mullan, Dr James Beirne and Dr Laura Feeney. In 2019 Dr Shannon Beattie and Chris Mosedale came on board with the ovarian cancer project during the InnovateUK ICURe programme. Shannon now sits within the company as CEO and Chris as CBO. In 2021 GenoME also recruited Dr Mark Street-Docherty as Executive Chair in the business, and Dr Charlotte McBrien as the first Laboratory Scientist, now Laboratory Manager.