NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – UK molecular diagnostics firm Biofortuna today announced a £1.3 million investment ($2.0 million), which will go toward the expansion of its custom service and manufacturing business.
Participants in the funding included all of Biofortuna's current investors, such as the Foresight Group, EV Group, Catapult Venture Managers, Merseyside Special Investment Fund, private investors, and management.
Biofortuna will use the funds to expand its freeze drying analysis and manufacturing capability to support its custom service client, as well as the US launch of its SSPGo HLA products through Abbott Molecular, it said.
The SSPGo products are for the transplantation, disease identification, and pharmacogenomics market. Biofortuna partnered with Abbot Molecular as an exclusive global distributor for the kits.
Biofortuna's molecular diagnostic products use a proprietary freeze-dried technology in which reagents are premixed and freeze dried so that the user needs only add the patient's DNA sample. The company offers the technology on a custom service basis.
"With an increasing number of companies coming to us to stabilize their products, we need to expand our freeze drying capability to complement our already established diagnostic development expertise," Biofortuna CEO Simon Douglas said in a statement.