Financings In Brief
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Biocartis raises $41 million for diagnostics platform development: Swiss biotech firm raises $41 million in a "Series B" private placement to accelerate development of the rapid, automated DNA/RNA molecular diagnostic testing platform that it bought from Philips in February, Biocartis announces April 8 (1"The Gray Sheet" Feb. 15, 2010). Privately-held Biocartis "will use the proceeds ... to accelerate its plans to finalize the development and validation of the first version of its proprietary new platform," the start-up firm explains. Potential applications include oncology and infectious disease testing. New investors contributing to the financing included Johnson & Johnson Development Corp. and Debiopharm Group. Biopharmaceutical firm Debiopharm will collaborate with Biocartis on companion diagnostics linked to therapies developed by Debiopharm under a personalized medicine partnership announced separately on April 8