NEW YORK – Dutch biotech startup Epify announced today that it has raised €500,000 ($547,000) in seed funding.
The firm will use the funding to develop a portfolio of biomarkers discovered by Maastricht University professor Manon van Engeland to detect colorectal cancer (CRC). Founded by Engeland, Epify anticipates offering the biomarkers for non-invasive diagnosis of CRC at the earliest stage possible to allow patients to benefit from therapeutic interventions while they are still healthy.
"Colorectal cancer is still underdiagnosed at an early stage, and too many patients still suffer from poor outcomes due to the lack of high performing non-invasive tests," Epify CEO Joris Schuurmans said in a statement. "We hope to provide better tools to clinicians to diagnose and treat their patients at the earliest stage possible."
Epify started as a collaboration between Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus and Belgian venture fund Novalis Biotech Incubation.
"Epify presents yet another exciting investment case where we can help bring real clinical impact in a field that has seen an enormous disparity between the progress in the scientific field and implementation in the provision of healthcare," Novalis Founder and Director Jan Van Den Berghe said in a statement.