Mercy BioAnalytics, a Massachusetts-based private oncology company, has raised US$59 million to propel commercialization of its ovarian cancer blood biopsy.
The Series B funding round had participation from a group of venture capital firms and strategic investors focused on healthcare innovation, oncology and women’s health. Novalis LifeSciences and the American-Japanese firm Sozo Ventures led the fundraising and the American Cancer Society was the most well-known participant.
Paul Meister, a Partner at Novalis, says Mercy’s blood test is one of the most promising early detection platforms in the oncology sector.
The medical operator’s capital injection comes at the beginning of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month in North America.
“All of us at Mercy are feeling a deep sense of responsibility today to deploy the capital just entrusted to us to deliver positive patient impact,” said CEO Dawn Mattoon. “We extend our unbounded gratitude to the investors who’ve joined us on this journey to deliver accurate, accessible diagnostic tools to improve patient outcomes.”
Mercy has made the considerably valid claim that its patented “Mercy Halo” ovarian cancer screening test yields unprecedented sensitivity and specificity for detecting the disease in post-menopausal women. During a clinical trial completed in partnership with University College London last year, the blood biopsy demonstrated 82 per cent sensitivity and 98 per cent specificity.
It differs from other blood testing systems because of the way it focuses on tumour-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) and their cancer biomarkers instead of circulating tumour DNA like conventional biopsies. These vesicles circulate in high abundance even in the earliest stages of cancer, Mercy has explained.
“One active tumour cell secretes ~1,000 EVs per day, every day,” Mercy highlighted on its website. “That same cell does not release any DNA until it dies, when it releases its two genomic copies of DNA.”
Read more: Breath Diagnostics tech achieves pneumonia prediction breakthrough in peer-reviewed study
Mercy aims to broaden its testing capabilities
Following the latest funding round, Mercy is now aiming to expand the Mercy Halo portfolio to include multi-cancer diagnostics tools and lung cancer screening tests.
Ovarian and lung cancer in particular lack efficacious testing modalities. Mercy has rightfully recognized them as more dangerous than other cancers in the disease group.
Financier and philanthropist Paul Blavin founded Mercy in 2018 alongside Harvard and MIT medicine graduate Joseph Sedlak. They sought to fill an unmet need for early cancer detection solutions at the time and have been making significant progress in that regard.
The admirable accuracy of Mercy’s Halo test and the company’s expansion plans bring to mind the OneBreath lung cancer screening system developed by Breath Diagnostics. This diagnostics tool has demonstrated 94 per cent sensitivity and 85 per cent specificity in several thorough analyses.
Mercy BioAnalytics and Breath Diagnostics are two influential American companies at the forefront of early-stage cancer detection.
Read more: Breath Diagnostics leader speaks at lung cancer education event in Louisville
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