Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

Mainz Biomed Secures $50M Prepaid Agreement, $5.5M Promissory Note

NEW YORK – Mainz Biomed said Thursday that it has entered into a $50 million prepaid advance agreement with investment management firm Yorkville Advisors Global. The two companies have also inked a $5.5 million promissory note with approximately $5 million funded at closing.

Mainz CEO Guido Baechler said in a statement that the flexibility of this funding will allow the company to continue operating in a "strategic and opportunistic fashion," as it pursues an "ambitious commercial and product development plan."

The company is currently commercializing its flagship product ColoAlert, a colorectal cancer detection assay combining DNA and RNA analysis with fecal immunohistochemistry, in Europe and the United Arab Emirates.

In December last year, Mainz began a US clinical trial called ReconAAsense, which is in the process of recruiting a planned 15,000-person cohort to evaluate the clinical performance of ColoAlert to support a submission for review by the US Food and Drug Administration. It also has studies ongoing exploring the addition of new biomarkers to the test to boost performance.

The firm's longer-term pipeline includes a similar test for pancreatic cancer dubbed PancAlert.

The Scan

Positive Framing of Genetic Studies Can Spark Mistrust Among Underrepresented Groups

Researchers in Human Genetics and Genomics Advances report that how researchers describe genomic studies may alienate potential participants.

Small Study of Gene Editing to Treat Sickle Cell Disease

In a Novartis-sponsored study in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that a CRISPR-Cas9-based treatment targeting promoters of genes encoding fetal hemoglobin could reduce disease symptoms.

Gut Microbiome Changes Appear in Infants Before They Develop Eczema, Study Finds

Researchers report in mSystems that infants experienced an enrichment in Clostridium sensu stricto 1 and Finegoldia and a depletion of Bacteroides before developing eczema.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment Specificity Enhanced With Stem Cell Editing

A study in Nature suggests epitope editing in donor stem cells prior to bone marrow transplants can stave off toxicity when targeting acute myeloid leukemia with immunotherapy.