NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – T2 Biosystems today announced the completion of $40 million in financing to support its clinical programs and commercialization of its molecular diagnostic panel for the identification of species-specific Candida fungal infections.
New investor Goldman Sachs led the financing. Existing investors Flagship Ventures, Polaris Partners, Aisling Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, Physic Ventures, Arcus Ventures, Partners Healthcare, Camros Capital, and WS Investments also participated.
In addition to supporting the Candida panel, proceeds from the financing will go toward completing development of additional sepsis diagnostic panels and expansion of T2 Bio's R&D work into other molecular, immunodiagnostic, and hemostasis assays, the Lexington, Mass.-based company said.
T2 Bio was founded in 2006 and its technology, which comes out of research performed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, uses superparamagnetic nanoparticles made up of a superparamagnetic metal core, polymer layer, and analyte-specific binding agents. Called T2MR, the technology measures the reaction of water molecules in the presence of magnetic fields.
T2 Bio, which raised $23 million in 2011, said that its diagnostic system can detect directly from whole blood, has sensitivity as low as 1 colony forming unit per milliliter, and can deliver results 25 times faster than current methods.
"We believe T2 Biosystems' breakthrough T2MR technology has the potential to change the clinical diagnostics landscape," Goldman Sachs Managing Director T.J. Carella said in a statement. "This financing will enable the company to bring to market its innovative T2Candida test and continue to advance a broad range of other products in development."