On the heels of closing $32 million in private equity financing, molecular diagnostics unit bioTheranostics, San Diego, announced it will operate as an independent company and spin out from bioMérieux, Marcy-l’Étoile, France, which will remain a minority shareholder.
Nicolas Barthelemy, bioTheranostics.
“This is an exciting new beginning for bioTheranostics,” says Nicolas Barthelemy, president and CEO of bioTheranostics. “We thank bioMérieux for its support over the years, which allowed us to develop and demonstrate the clinical value of our two important marketed cancer diagnostic tests: Breast Cancer Index (BCI) and CancerType ID.”
Established in 2008 as a division of bioMérieux SA, bioTheranostics offers testing services through its San Diego laboratory, which is accredited by the College of American Pathologists and certified under the requirements of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA). The company offers two proprietary products that support oncologists in the treatment of cancer patients. As a tool for physicians using extended endocrine therapy for estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer patients, BCI was developed to predict the risk of late disease recurrence and identify patients most likely to benefit from continuing therapy beyond 5 years. The CancerType ID is a gene expression test for metastatic patients with diagnostic ambiguity, helping physicians determine optimal site-directed treatment regimens with the goal of improving patient outcomes.
According to Barthelemy, the financing will allow bioTheranostics to build on its current momentum. Following approval from the Palmetto MolDx program for Medicare coverage of BCI in late 2014, bioTheranostics quadrupled its growth rate in 2015, doubling its revenue over the prior year. In 2015, more than 900 physicians prescribed the BCI test. The company plans to grow its market presence and expand its clinical development programs with the goal of expanding the clinical indications for the BCI test.
Financing was led by MVM Life Science Partners, with participation of Canepa Advanced Healthcare Fund and HealthQuest Capital.
“We are fortunate to invest in bioTheranostics,” says Eric Bednarski of MVM. “The company has demonstrated a strong track record of clinical innovation and exceptional commercial growth driven by molecular diagnostic tests that provide meaningful, personalized information to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment. We look forward to the future of the business and are pleased to be partnering with the company’s outstanding management team and our coinvestors.”
For more information, visit bioTheranostics.
