By Tony Fong
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Nuclea Biotechnologies has started a Series C financing round targeting $10 million to further its regulatory submissions and for marketing activities, its CEO said today.
The company disclosed in a Form D filed this week with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it had raised $1.9 million financing round. As a result, it has paid back a note held by six current shareholders in the firm, leaving Nuclea debt-free, CEO Patrick Muraca told GenomeWeb Daily News.
The note was issued in 2010 and was due March 31, and the $1.9 million was part of $3.4 million in financing that the firm announced in February.
In the meantime, Nuclea is closing on another $1 million raise that would bring the total amount raised in its Series B round to $11 million, and this week it began a Series C round.
Proceeds from the B round are being used to fund the company's pre-market IDE filings submitted to FDA in January for its breast cancer and prostate cancer assays. In addition, it will support the firm's operational expenses and fund "new relations" with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Johns Hopkins University, Muraca said.
Nuclea has an ongoing research agreement with the Center for Molecular Oncologic Pathology at Dana-Farber, and the partners have initiated efforts to develop biomarkers for prostate cancer, he said.
Similarly, Nuclea is developing new prostate cancer biomarkers with Johns Hopkins as part of its ongoing relationship with the university, he added.
Proceeds from the Series C round will go toward FDA activities and marketing activities, Muraca said. He declined to provide an update on its FDA pre-IDE submissions but said an announcement will be forthcoming in a few weeks.
Based in Pittsfield, Mass., Nuclea develops diagnostic assays based on fatty acid synthase, a biomarker for tumors. In addition to disease outcome, the company is developing tests for predicting therapeutic response.