NEW YORK – Bionano Genomics said this week that it has closed a registered direct offering of 17,513,136 shares of its common stock at an offering price of $.571 per share. In a concurrent private placement, the company issued unregistered clinical milestone-linked warrants, comprising Series A warrants to purchase up to 17,513,136 shares of common stock and Series B warrants to purchase up to 17,513,136 shares of common stock. The Series warrants have an exercise price of $.571 per share. The aggregate gross proceeds from the offering were approximately $10 million, and the potential additional gross proceeds from the Series warrants, if fully exercised on a cash basis, will be approximately $20 million. Bionano said it intends to use the net proceeds from the offering, together with existing cash and cash equivalents and available-for-sale securities, for general corporate purposes including working capital, research and development expenses, repayment or redemption of existing indebtedness, and capital expenditures.
Thermo Fisher Scientific said this week that its board of directors has authorized a quarterly cash dividend of $.39 per common share, payable on Oct. 15, 2024, to shareholders of record as of Sept. 13, 2024.
Helio Genomics said last week that it completed its separation from its parent company, Laboratory for Advanced Medicine, on June 19. LAM is a Chinese cancer diagnostic firm, and Irvine, California-based Helio Genomics is an American independent entity. Helio offers a blood-based liver cancer test that uses cell-free DNA methylation patterns and serum protein biomarkers to detect hepatocellular carcinoma. Helio Chief Growth Officer Gary Frazier said in a statement that "the separation from LAM marks the beginning of a new chapter for Helio, one that reflects our growth as a company as we transition from R&D to commercialization with the HelioLiver Dx diagnostics test."
VolitionRx has appointed transaction advisory firm PharmaVentures to provide strategic advice and transactional support on the outlicensing of Volition's oncology portfolio. PharmaVentures will advise Volition as it attempts to secure licensing deals for its Nu.Q Cancer blood-based epigenetic assays to help detect, guide treatment of, and monitor cancer, as well as for its Capture-PCR detection method for liquid biopsy.
Mainz Biomed this week submitted its next-generation colorectal cancer screening test to the US Food and Drug Administration for breakthrough device designation. The company has defined the final configuration of its test, which integrates its fecal immunochemical test with proprietary mRNA biomarkers and an artificial intelligence-based algorithm, after readouts from its ColoFuture and eAArly Detect studies. In a clinical study, the assay had sensitivity of 97 percent for colorectal cancer, sensitivity for of 88 percent for advanced precancerous lesions, and specificity of 93 percent.
Parse Biosciences launched its certified service provider (CSP) program this week. Fremont, California-based SeqMatic and Framingham, Massachusetts-based Eurofins Clinical Enterprise are the first CSPs to offer the company’s single-cell products as a service. Both firms can handle samples from any location and can run pilot as well as high-throughput projects, Parse said.
MGI Australia, a subsidiary of MGI Tech, said this week that it has inked a partnership with the University of Queensland’s Centre for Environmental and Agricultural Solutions to Antimicrobial Resistance (CEAStAR) for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) testing and surveillance. Through the collaboration, MGI will deploy its DNBSeq technology and automated lab solutions to help develop methods to reduce the adverse impacts of AMR in engineered or natural aquatic environments, potentially contributing to improved water quality and food safety.
In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on GenomeWeb.