NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Paradigm Diagnostics today announced the first closing of what it expects to be a $7 million Series B financing to support the rapid commercial expansion of its PCDx tumor sequencing test.
The first tranche of the funding round, which raised $3.5 million, was led by Mesa Verde Venture Partners. Mesa Verde managing director Carey Ng also joined Paradigm's board.
Paradigm's PCDx is a comprehensive targeted NGS test, designed to help physicians offer patients a more personalized approach to cancer treatment by identifying the underlying genomic and proteomic alterations in a tumor. The test combines targeted DNA sequencing with mRNA and protein analyses, interrogating targets at an average coverage depth of more than 5,000x.
"We have seen a large increase in demand following the independent clinical validation published in July showing much better progression free survival for cancer patients using PCDx to help guide their treatment," Paradigm President and CEO David Mallery said in a statement.
In that study, researchers from Indiana University tracked results from clinical use of the PCDx test by IU's Health Precision Genomics Program from April 2014 to October 2015, and showed that survival was significantly longer for patients who received genomically guided therapy than for those who did not.
The new financing will also help Paradigm expand its commercial team and support its research collaborations, Mallery added.