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Immunexpress Secures $6M Financing Led by Debiopharm Group

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — Molecular diagnostic developer Immunexpress has garnered $6 million in financing led by Switzerland's Debiopharm Group, the companies said today.

Immunexpress, which has locations in Brisbane, Australia, and Seattle, said it will use the funding to advance development of its SeptiCyte technology and to bring one of its late-stage sepsis diagnostic products to market.

The SeptiCyte technology quantifies multiple specific host response molecular markers from a patient's immune system for early diagnosis, detection, triage, screening, and severity assessment, according to the company. According to the Immunexpress website, the company adapts these biomarkers to new and existing multiplex qRT-PCR and proteomic clinical diagnostic platforms.

Results from Immunexpress clinical trials show that these immune response biomarkers are more accurate and instructive than pathogen detection for the early detection and management of sepsis. The SeptiCyte technology is the basis for a range of investigational products in the Immunexpress pipeline, the company said.

In 2012 Debiopharm, a global biopharmaceutical group, forged a collaboration with Immunexpress and invested $2 million in the company to develop its sepsis assays.

"Debiopharm and Immunexpress have been collaborating since June 2012 on the development of one of the Immunexpress investigational products for triaging patients in emergency rooms," Thierry Mauvernay, delegate of the board of Debiopharm Group, said in a statement this week. "We are impressed by their work and are confident that the future of sepsis management lies in the use of their innovative diagnostic technology."

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