Exosome-based cancer Dx attracts $20m investment
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Exosome Diagnostics has raised $20m in its first institutional financing round. Co-lead investors were NGN Capital and Forbion Capital Partners. Exosome, which is based in New York and Munich, said it will use the funds to further develop and commercialise a series of body fluid-based cancer diagnostics through its proprietary, exosome-based technology platform. Exosomes are lipid-covered microvesicles shed by solid tumours into bodily fluids, such as blood and urine. These microvesicles contain large sequences of a tumour’s genetic material in an enriched form. The company has demonstrated that it is able to extract high-quality exosomes from the blood and urine of cancer patients; and then detect, with high sensitivity and specificity, key genes and gene mutations associated with a variety of cancers.