Cambridge Innovation Capital (“CIC”), a Cambridge-based investor in high-growth technology and healthcare companies, has made a further commitment to one of its healthcare portfolio companies, Inivata Limited, by participating in a Series A fundraising together with existing investors Imperial Innovations, Johnson and Johnson Innovation and new investor Woodford Patient Capital Trust.
Following completion of this £31.5 million funding round, CIC will own in excess of 22%, on a fully diluted basis, of Inivata.
Inivata is a clinical cancer genomics company employing the precision of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) analysis to improve personalized healthcare in oncology.The new funds will be used to accelerate clinical studies to validate Inivata’s technology platform based on enhanced TAm-Seq, and commercialize its first products.
"Since Inivata's seed funding sixteen months ago, the market has seen an explosion of interest and funding in liquid biopsy research. With our early presence in Cambridge, UK and our imminent presence in the USA, we are well-placed to be forerunners in the practical application of liquid biopsy for clinical oncologists," said Michael Stocum, Chief Executive Officer of Inivata.
"We are grateful to our existing investors for their continued strong support of Inivata and very pleased to welcome Woodford Patient Capital Trust to augment what is already a very strong investor base. Our mission is to partner with oncologists to revolutionize cancer treatments and outcomes for their patients - part of a new landscape of personalized healthcare.
"Inivata’s platform will initially be applied across a spectrum of solid tumours, including lung, breast and colon cancer, to demonstrate the integration of genomic information with clinically actionable decision-making, thereby defining a personalized approach to cancer care."
Inivata’s proprietary technology represents a new generation of non-invasive molecular profiling from a simple blood draw that is poised to impact the major aspects of a patient’s care including diagnosis, prognosis, treatment stratification and response monitoring. The test, which allows precise analysis of cancer-related mutations present in ctDNA, is designed to provide oncologists with clinically actionable genomic information which can guide therapy selection, monitor treatment progress and, importantly, detect new mutations as they emerge.
The genomic analysis of ctDNA has the potential to transform cancer care and resolve many of the limitations inherent in current tissue-based testing protocols that are highly invasive and are not amenable to serial monitoring in routine practice. Inivata’s platform is based on pioneering research from the Rosenfeld Lab at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute (CRUK-CI) and to date, has demonstrated putative clinical utility of enhanced TAm-Seq through published clinical work presented at multiple cancer conferences in the autumn of 2015.
“We have been impressed with the results from Inivata’s initial clinical studies that highlight the sensitivity and accuracy of the company’s ctDNA platform. Inivata is already working with a strong network of clinicians in both Europe and the United States and this new funding will allow the company to accelerate its clinical validation and commercialisation efforts,” said Robert Tansley, Investment Director, Healthcare, at Cambridge Innovation Capital.
______________________________________