Frank Walsh, Partner, Enterprise Equity; Bill Liao, European Investment Partner, SOSventures; Charles Garvey, CEO, Metabolomic Diagnostics; and Prof Louise Kenny, Consultant Obstetrician at CUMH and Director of the INFANT Centre
Cork-based biotech company Metabolomic Diagnostics, which provides predictive screening for complications of pregnancy, has raised €1.6m in a new funding round.
The €1.6m will be used to complete its new product PrePsia, a screening test developed by Metabolomic Diagnostics for preeclampsia in first-time pregnant mothers.
This latest funding round is supported by existing investors – SOSventures, AIB Seed Capital Fund and Enterprise Ireland – as well as a number of private investors.
‘Securing this new funding will allow Metabolomic Diagnostics to complete the development of PrePsia with a view to bringing the product to market in 2017’
– CHARLES GARVEY, METABOLOMIC DIAGNOSTICS
The availability of PrePsia has the potential to dramatically improve patient outcomes, by saving lives and reducing the lifelong health complications that survivors of preeclampsia live with.
A life-saving biotechnology
Affecting almost 7.5m pregnancies per year, preeclampsia is the single greatest cause of premature births and is still responsible for the deaths of more than 75,000 mothers and half a million babies each year.
The PrePsia blood test will be able to detect the risk of preeclampsia early in the pregnancy and will ultimately save the lives of women and their babies through personalised medical interventions.
‘In the modern world, there is no excuse for having a medical complication that can result in the deaths of otherwise healthy mothers and their unborn babies’
– DR JIM WALSH, METABOLOMIC DIAGNOSTICS
The investment is being used by Metabolomic Diagnostics to commercialise the technology, which is based on research by Inspirefest 2015 speaker Prof Louise Kenny, director at the INFANT Research Centre in UCC, into metabolomic biomarkers during pregnancy.
“Securing this new funding will allow Metabolomic Diagnostics to complete the development of PrePsia with a view to bringing the product to market in 2017”, said Charles Garvey, CEO of Metabolomic Diagnostics.
The company has also announced that Dr Jim Walsh has joined its board. Walsh currently serves as executive director of Trinity Biotech. Over the years, he has made several high-profile investments in diagnostic and medical device companies.
Walsh said: “In the modern world, there is no excuse for having a medical complication that can result in the deaths of otherwise healthy mothers and their unborn babies. The technology being developed by Metabolomic Diagnostics is of enormous global significance and represents a substantial market opportunity to help combat pre-eclampsia.”
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Disclosure: SOSVentures is an investor in Silicon Republic
