NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Diagnostics developer HealthTell announced today that it has completed a $26 million Series B financing round led by Third Point Ventures.
The company, which also raised $14 million in a previous Series A round, plans to use the proceeds to commercialize panels for tests for autoimmune diseases, such as lupus.
The firm said its Immunosignature Technology platform is best suited to test for these diseases, which can be difficult to diagnose as they mimic other conditions. Instead of directly targeting the disease, the HealthTell test profiles the patient's immune system using a high-density peptide array that is designed to query the antibodies present in a human blood sample, and looks for patterns that correspond to overall health.
HealthTell also said it has developed a pharmaceutical services business that will create companion diagnostics for new and existing drugs. "Our pharmaceutical customers continue to reinforce the need for new tools to stratify patients for drug development trials and to select patients most likely to respond to specific treatments," said CEO Bill Colston in a statement.