20/20 Genesystems United States

20/20 GeneSystems is a revenue stage diagnostics company that markets a blood test for the early detection of lung cancer.  Several marketing partnerships entered in late 2014 should permit a nationwide expansion in 2015.  A JV with a multi-billion dollar Chinese company is expected to lead to commercialization of the lung cancer test in China in the near term.   20/20 also is developing companion tests to targeted cancer therapies.   

In 2014 we raised $1.2 million from our existing shareholders and members of the Keiretsu Forum, the nation's largest network of Angel investors.   A Term Sheet and Due Diligence package has been prepared by Keiretsu Forum members with expertise in healthcare investing and molecular diagnostics.  

Biotech Phase of Development
Technology Overview
Multiplex immunoassays (tumor antigens and autoantibodies)
Alliance & Collaborations
Marketing and technology agreements with leading diagnostics companies
Supporting Metrics or Evidence
Extensive case-control studies (multi-center)
Current Financing Needs
$4 million round ($650,000 closed since November)
Current Timeline
on the market
Current Investors
Keiretsu Forum (largest Angel network in U.S.)
IP Status
issued patents and pending applications (worldwide)
Recent Milestones
Various lab send out agreements
Management Team Highlights
Veterans of leading diagnostics companies such as Ventana, Qiagen, and Celera
Jonathan Cohen
CEO 

Advent Life Sciences United Kingdom

Advent Life Sciences

We invest predominantly in early and mid-stage life sciences companies.  We seek to back truly innovative companies that have a first-in-class or best-in-class approach and who are looking for a well-connected partner on the road to success.

Our investments cover a range of sectors within life sciences, including new drug discovery, enabling technologies, med tech and diagnostics.Advent Life Sciences is one of Europe’s leading venture teams investing in life sciences businesses. We are a deliberately small, and highly focused team of senior individuals, with long-standing track records of entrepreneurial and investment success across the UK, Europe and the USA.

Real people. Real insight. Real value.

Innovation. Clarity. Execution.

 

 


Dr Dale Pfost
Dr Dale Pfost
LinkedIn logo General Partner 

Aisling Capital

Aisling Capital is a private equity group based in New York with over $1.6 billion in assets under management. Aisling is currently looking for new firms for potential investments for the firm?s third fund. The firm looks to make investments in companies seeking to raise a total round of $2-5 million. The firm looks to invest in companies globally with a focus on companies located in the United States.
Dennis Purcell
Founder and Senior Advisor 

Aperiomics United States

Aperiomics, Inc. is a next generation sequencing service company with a mission to detect virtually any pathogen from any clinical, agricultural, or environmental sample.  This service platform uses a combination of next-generation sequencing and advanced bioinformatic data analysis to identify pathogens in various samples.  Aperiomics’ proprietary service platform focuses on pathogens of public and animal health importance, satisfying the increasing need for more robust and more efficient next-generation sequencing data analysis.

The impact of Aperiomics’ technologies is broad due to our unique approach to pathogen detection. Instead of blindly probing for a proverbial ‘needle in a haystack’, Aperiomics’ approach analyzes the entire ‘haystack’ using next-generation sequencing and harnessing the power of bioinformatics to identify all ‘needles’. This approach is transformative compared to current pathogen detection methods. Aperiomics’ proprietary service, Absolute*NGS Pathogen Detection Platform, screens samples (clinical, environmental, etc.) for the presence of any microbe (fungal, viral, bacterial, eukaryotic parasite) – including pathogens that have never before been identified. This platform technology has broad application across diverse markets such as health care, agriculture, environmental, industrial, and veterinary testing.

Year Founded
2013
Biotech Subsector
Medtech Subsector
Biotech Phase of Development
Medtech Phase of Development
Current Financing Needs
$5M Series A
Dr Crystal Icenhour
Dr Crystal Icenhour
LinkedIn logo CEO 
BIO

Crystal R. Icenhour, PhD received her PhD in Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine from the University of Cincinnati Medical School of Graduate Studies in 2002.  She conducted postdoctoral research in the Thoracic Diseases Research Unit at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine from 2002-2005 and in the Department of Infectious Diseases at Duke University Medical Center from 2005-2006.  Dr. Icenhour has been involved in local and national postdoctoral associations including the Mayo Research Fellows Association Executive Committee (President), the Duke University Postdoctoral Association (chair of membership committee), and the National Postdoctoral Association (2008 Chair).  Dr. Icenhour was President & Chief Science Officer for Phthisis Diagnostics, a biotechnology company located in Charlottesville, Virginia from 2007-2013.  In 2014 Dr. Icenhour was hired as CEO of Aperiomics in Ashburn, Virginia.  Aperiomics’ focus is to harness the power of next-generation sequencing to improve world health.

Armune BioScience United States

Armune BioScience is a medical diagnostics company formed to develop and commercialize unique technology for diagnostic and prognostic tests for prostate, lung and breast cancers. The technology is unique because it utilizes autoantibodies created by the body’s own immune system to detect cancer at an early stage. When the immune system recognizes a cancer antigen it creates an autoantibody to the antigen which is replicated by the immune system. Armune’s technology can be used to detect these autoantibodies in serum.

Early detection and prognosis of cancer is critical not only in selecting appropriate treatment protocols, but also in increasing 5-year survival rates among cancer patients. Cancer detection in early stages is typically performed by detecting cancer-specific serum antigens. Unfortunately, cancer serum antigens are present at very low levels in early stage disease. Also, a single detectable cancer antigen may not be present in all patients due to heterogeneity of the disease and therefore multiple biomarkers are needed. Detection of serum autoantibody responses to tumor antigens provides more reliable serum marker(s) for cancer diagnosis. Serum autoantibodies are more stable than serum antigens and may be more abundant than antigens, especially at low tumor burdens characteristic of early stage cancer. The technology does not detect cancer per se, but looks for the immune response to cancer.

Armune’s initial focus is on a prostate cancer diagnostic test. The PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) test is currently used as a prostate cancer diagnostic test and it has good sensitivity (~86%), but very poor specificity (20 to 30%) resulting in high false positive rates (70 to 80%) and many unnecessary biopsies and costs.

Website:
www.armune.com
Year Founded
2008
Medtech Subsector
Biotech Phase of Development
Medtech Phase of Development
Technology Overview
The technology is unique because it utilizes autoantibodies created by the body’s own immune system to detect cancer at an early stage. When the immune system recognizes a cancer antigen it creates an autoantibody to the antigen which is replicated by the immune system.
Current Financing Needs
Completing a Series A syndicate of $2.5 million.
Current Timeline
Launching the prostate cancer diagnostic assay as a LDT (Laboratory Developed Test) under the CLIA guidelines beginning Q1 '15.
Current Investors
Angels, MEDC (Michigan Economic Development Corporation), BRCC (Bioscience Research Commercialization Center) and grants.
IP Status
3 patents issues and 6 pending
Recent Milestones
We have developed and validated the prostate cancer diagnostic assay.
Management Team Highlights
Extensive life science experience in both large companies as well as start-ups.
Eli Thomssen
President & CEO 

Baxter Ventures

Baxter Ventures is the strategic venture arm of Baxter International Inc. that was formed in 2011 and is based in Deerfield, Illinois. The firm is currently making equity investments out of a $200 Million fund with allocations generally falling in the $3-$5 million range. The firm is looking in invest in companies who have previously or are currently in the process of securing investment from other institutional investors. The firm is willing to look globally for investment opportunities and plans to make approximately 2 new investments over the next 6-9 months.

Priyanka Rohatgi
Director 

Becton Dickinson (BD)

BD (Becton Dickinson and Company) based in Franklin Lakes NJ is a leading medical technology company that partners with customers and stakeholders to address many of the world?s most pressing and evolving health needs. Their innovative solutions are focused on improving drug delivery enhancing the diagnosis of infectious diseases and cancers supporting the management of diabetes and advancing cellular research. The firm has nearly 3 associates in 5 countries who strive to fulfill our purpose of ?Helping all people live healthy lives? by advancing the quality accessibility safety and affordability of healthcare around the world. For more information please visit www.bd.com. BD partners with companies from their formation through to commercialization including expansion of operations and channel access. BD considers a variety of engagement models including research collaborations licenses investments and acquisition when partnering with companies aligned with BD?s core businesses and new areas of strategic interest seeking opportunities from around the globe.
Albert Lauritano
Director Strategic Technology Partnerships 

BSI Capital Group

BSI Capital is a Single Family Office based in Mexico City Mexico. The firm is looking to make growth stage investments into healthcare companies generally in series C and D rounds or later. Due to the structure of the firm BSI has a highly variable investment size that will depend of the financial needs of the company. The firm is currently looking for new opportunities throughout the United States Mexico and Canada. The firm has no set number of investment in plans to make over the next 6-9 months.
Alejandra Paradones
CEO & Founder 

Cavidi United States

Cavidi is a Swedish based diagnostic company that has developed a novel method for measuring HIV viral load in patients recieving anti-retroviral therapy for treatment of HIV. Viral load is a critical indicator of the effectiveness of HIV therapy, and has been the standard of care in the developed world for many years. Just recently the World Health Organization (WHO) updated its recommendations to include viral load for patients in the developing world where the vast majority of HIV patients exists, and a large influx of international funding has significantly increased aceess to HIV drugs. The Cavidi method is novel in that it measures the viral enzyme reverse transcriptase (RT), and not viral nucleic acid (RNA) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The Cavidi method is not subject to the logistical challenges of PCR such as contamination risk. The Cavidi RT assay is much less expensive and can be performed in labs that lack the sophisitication to perform technologies such as PCR. Therfore, the Cavidi assay significantly improves access to this vitally important technology. For the past several years a manual version of the Cavidi technology has been utilized in laboratories in the developing world. The performance of the assay has been validated vs the industry leading PCR methods in many peer review publications. The company is now seeking funding to develop an automated version of the assay that will make it more widely adaptable to many laborartories. 

Website:
www.cavidi.com
Year Founded
2007
Biotech Subsector
Medtech Subsector
Biotech Phase of Development
Technology Overview
Cavidi's novel IVD technology uses Reverse Transcriptase(RT) as a marker for measuring replication competent HIV in blood (HIV viral load). Measuring viral load in HIV patients receiving anti viral therapy is now a global World Health Organization recommendation. Unlike PCR tests, Cavidi's RT assay requires minimal resources & lab footprint, can measure all subtypes of HIV, and at half the cost or less of PCR tests. The technology has been proven in over 400,000 tests in 50 markets worldwide.
Alliance & Collaborations
• Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Uganda • Burnet Institute, Australia • University of Maryland School of Medicine IHV (Institute of Human Virology) • Karolinska Hospital, Sweden • SIDA (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) • Royal Free Hospital, London, UK • Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership, Botswana- • New York University School of Medicine, Kenya • Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, Sweden • Virus Reference Depart
Supporting Metrics or Evidence
The Cavidi ExaVIr Load assay has been widely cited in peer review publications, and favorably compared to industry standard PCR technology. In addition to routine HIV viral load measurement, the Cavidi RT assay has demonstrated favorable performance vs. industry standard PCR for early infant HIV diagnostic (EID) market. ExaVir™ assay showed excellent concordance with real-time molecular assays Abbott M2000sp and Roche Cobas TaqMan...Journal of Clinical Microbiology 47(10): 3266-3270
Current Financing Needs
Development project completion 2015 $7M + 2016 $3M =$10M Global product launch 2016 $3M + 2017 $2M=$5M
Current Timeline
Next generation of fully automated HIV viral load test development project started in 2102. Prototype 1 and 2 now working. OEM selected Q12015, validation and verification of final design Q22015, Distribution Partner selection by Q22015, pre-series Q42015, serial production start Q12016, and CE Registration Q22016. Cash flow positive 2017.
Current Investors
Two private US investors hold majority interest
IP Status
IP is strong and broad covering key aspects of the technology methods with over 100 international patents in five patent families.
Recent Milestones
• Awarded SWECARE Export Award by Swedish MOH May 2013 • Supply Agreement signed with Load Zero Foundation in June 2013 • Presentation at UN Global Health Impact Forum May 2014 • TECH20 award as top 20 (2%) of 800 startups in Sweden June 2014 • UNITAID grant LOI accepted (3/12) June 2014, Full Application grant pending Dec. 2014 • POLS/One Technology evaluation meta study (2/2014) ranks Cavidi ExaVirLoad with top global diagnostic comp
Management Team Highlights
Experts in diagnostic technology development covering: Clinical Assay Chemistry, Devices, Instruments, Software, System Integration, QA & QC, Regulatory Strategy. Commercial scale up of new technologies in global markets with focus on emerging markets in Africa and Asia. Capital raising for start up and early stage companies.
Bob Barrett
Global Head, Business Development