Predicta Biosciences, a precision oncology company developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic products, announced it had raised an oversubscribed $5.2 million seed round led by The Engine Ventures. And additional participating investors include Illumina Ventures, Time Boost Capital, the American Cancer Society Bright Edge and the Oetgen family.
Jay Wohlgemuth (former CMO of Quest Diagnostics), Mara Aspinall (former CEO of Roche Tissue Diagnostics and Partner at Illumina VC), and Ann DeWitt (General Partner at The Engine Ventures) will join the company’s Board. And Predicta will use the seed funding to expand its team and build a CLIA lab and workflow for sequencing and bioinformatics.
Predicta was launched last year at Blavatnik Harvard Life Lab Longwood by leading academics from Harvard Medical School and MIT and clinicians in multiple myeloma and cancer genomics, spanning Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute. The company co-founders include Irene Ghobrial, MD, Kenneth C. Anderson, MD, Gad Getz, PhD, and Romanos Sklavenitis-Pistofidis, MD PhD. And all are leaders in their respective disease indications and cancer clinical research, collectively identifying an unmet need for non-invasive diagnostics and pioneering experimental and computational biology and tools to analyze cancer genomes better.
The advent of precision medicine has led to significant advances in therapeutics. But a large gap remains in diagnostics, which impacts the effectiveness of clinical trials and patient outcomes. For example, bone marrow biopsies and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) tests are frequently used as blood cancer diagnostics. But they are 50+ year old tools, invasive, and have high failure rates and low sensitivity, making it harder to diagnose and monitor patients. For blood cancers with no cure, including multiple myeloma, the second most common blood cancer after lymphoma, with about 35,000 newly diagnosed patients every year in the U.S. This is especially crucial to diagnose as early as possible and identify targeted therapies with lower toxicity as this can extend a patient’s life and ensure a higher quality of life.
Predicta is building a diagnostic and monitoring platform that provides targeted information for diagnosis, treatment decisions and patient monitoring, and replaces painful bone marrow biopsies with simple blood draws. And the company’s non-invasive diagnostic tests initially focus on multiple myeloma, a disease that develops from two asymptomatic precursors that can be identified and treated proactively.
The company’s first product GenoPredicta offers more detailed and complete information on a patient’s multiple myeloma compared to existing market options, and offers sophisticated algorithmic analysis for risk stratification and treatment optimization. Currently, GenoPredicta is being used in a research capacity at Dana Farber, with plans to launch the diagnostic product commercially early next year.
Along with its diagnostic and monitoring platform, Predicta is compiling extensive genomic and transcriptomic data from pre and post treatment timepoints, and utilizing AI to mine the data for novel target discovery and therapeutics development. The company’s diagnostics and growing clinical database will benefit current and future blood cancer patients, their caregivers, physicians and insurers. Predicta plans to eventually expand its diagnostic and monitoring platform into lymphoma and autoimmune conditions.
The company is headed by CEO Kate Caves, CFO Joanne Bryce and SVP of Translational Research Aparna Raval, PhD. Caves brings more than a decade of senior corporate development experience from 10x Genomics, Abcam, Zymergen and Atum Bio. Bryce brings more than two decades of CFO experience at Disc Medicine, Dyne and other high profile biotechs. Formerly an Executive Director at Bristol Myers Squibb and a Senior Scientist at Genentech, Raval brings more than two decades of experience in translational and clinical research of hematological malignancies.
For driving early adoption and demonstrate clinical utility of its diagnostic and monitoring platform, Predicta is actively pursuing additional partnerships with academic medical centers and pharmaceutical companies.
KEY QUOTES:
“Predicta is passionate about early cancer detection and transforming the patient experience. Our mission is twofold: to deliver non-invasive tests that diagnose cancer in the earliest stages, and develop a one-of-a-kind clinical database that identifies new drug targets and immune signatures. For precision medicine to succeed, we need to empower physicians with the tools and knowledge required to make informed decisions and provide the best possible care. Predicta is using blood-based multi-omics to more easily diagnose patients sooner, and enable personalized monitoring and treatment throughout their care journey.”
– Kate Caves, CEO of Predicta
“The Predicta team cares deeply about empowering not only physicians, but also patients with detailed information about their unique molecular data, treatment options and monitoring recommendations. In addition to providing more complete information on a patient’s multiple myeloma, our tests evaluate patients’ immune system cells, equipping physicians with the unique and critical ability to determine the likelihood of a patient responding to new immunotherapies like CAR T-cell therapy and Bispecific antibodies.”
– Kenneth Anderson, clinical co-founder of Predicta
“There’s a massive need for new therapeutic targets in blood cancers, as few cures exist and many existing treatments are highly toxic. Predicta is uniquely positioned to transform both the discovery and development of new therapeutics. The company stands to make a truly meaningful impact, not only because of its early partnerships and financing, but also because of its incredible team of academic and clinical experts who bring invaluable domain expertise.”
— Ann DeWitt (General Partner at The Engine Ventures)
