NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Singapore-based molecular diagnostics firm Nova Satra today announced a US$2 million investment from Genting Bio Cellular, a wholly owned subsidiary of investment and management firm Genting Berhad.
The funds will be used for regulatory approvals and commercialization of Nova Satra's lead test, a noninvasive blood-based test for breast cancer, which leverages an epigenetic platform technology developed at the University of Oxford. The test relies on highly stable DNA-based targets as part of chromosomal signatures instead of unstable protein/RNA molecules that other molecular diagnostics rely on, the company said.
In conjunction with the financing, Genting Bio Cellular acquired the exclusive rights to distribute the test in Malaysia. Two directors nominated by Genting also joined Nova Satra's board.
The company said that it also intends to make available a pipeline of molecular diagnostic tests across multiple cancers.
Nova Satra CoFounder and CEO Kane Black said that the investment provides the firm with capital resources and "substantial operation support to our research, development, and commercialization program."