Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

Sera Prognostics Closes $20M Series B Financing Round

NEW YORK(GenomeWeb) – Sera Prognostics said today it has closed $20 million in Series B financing.

The round was led by European investment firm Chione, which is a new investor in the firm, and included current Sera investors Domain Associates, InterWest Partners, Catalyst Health Ventures, UpStart Life Sciences Capital, and Osage University Partners.

The funding follows a $19.3 million Series A round that Sera closed in 2011 and will support continued development of the company's PreTRM proteomic test for assessing pregnant women's risk of preterm delivery.

In 2013 Sera completed enrollment of 5,500 patients from 11 US sites as part of its Proteomic Assessment of Preterm Risk clinical study and said today that it expects results of the study to be available in the second quarter of 2015. The company did not provide an estimated date for launch of the test. Upon closing the 2011 Series A round, Sera said it was aiming for a 2013 launch, later changing this to 2014.

In addition to the financing, Sera has appointed to its board Mansoor Raza Mirza, chief oncologist at Copenhagen University Hospital.

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.