NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Blood-based cancer testing firm CellMax Life officially launched today having raised $9 million in series A-1 venture financing, which — combined with earlier investments — brings its total funds raised to date to $14 million.
The $9 million funding round was led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Artiman, as well as several Taiwanese venture investors including Acer Founder and Chairman Stan Shih, CellMax said.
The company plans to use the money to bring to market a variety of tests based on the detection of germline cancer risk mutations, circulating tumor cells, circulating tumor DNA, and epigenetic markers, with the goal of moving cancer care away from a focus on "intractable late-stages" toward detection and effective treatment at earlier stages.
The firm also announced the first of these tests today, a multi-biomarker assay for the early detection of colorectal cancer called CellMax CRC-Protect.
"Early detection is the best defense against this asymptomatic disease — when treatment costs are low and survival rates are high," said Co-founder and CEO Atul Sharan.
The company is currently marketing CRC-Protect in Taiwan, but eventually plans to expand to the US.