NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — Great Basin said today that it has secured $9.5 million in Series B funding.
The Salt Lake City-based company will use the funding to expand manufacturing and fund research and development, including further developing and expanding the test menu for its Portrait Analyzer molecular diagnostics platform.
Great Basin said that it will also use the funds to expand global commercialization efforts.
The Portrait Analyzer can multiplex up to 64 distinct targets in a single assay; provides sample-to-answer results in less than an hour, depending on the target; and features on-demand testing with no test batching.
The company received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration for its first assay, a molecular diagnostic test for toxigenic Clostridium difficile, in May, and began selling the test along with its platform in November.
Great Basin said that it plans to initiate three clinical trials in the next 12 months, including trials for its Staph ID/R assay in the current quarter. The Staph ID/R assay is an automated DNA multiplex test that can identify major pathogenic strains of Staphylococcus to the species level and detect the presence or absence of the methicillin-resistance determinant gene, mecA.
The latest financing round was led by returning private investors. Great Basin closed a $12.1 million Series A financing round in May 2010 led by private investors.