IRVINE, CA and AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS, May 31, 2012 – Agendia, an innovative molecular cancer diagnostics company and leader in personalized medicine, today announced that the company has raised USD $65 million in a private round of equity financing.
“The support we have received in this round of financing is a strong reflection of our recent growth and confidence in the commercialization of our product pipeline in the future,” said David Macdonald, CEO of Agendia. “We will use these funds to expand commercialization of our current breast cancer Symphony suite of tests, as well as for development of our personalized medicine pipeline. We have recently launched our Symphony suite in an FFPE format, and we are preparing to launch our ColoPrint recurrence test for stage II colon cancer prognosis and prediction.”
The financing round was led by the Debiopharm Group™ (Debiopharm), a leading drug development company based in Switzerland, with significant support from all of Agendia’s current investors, including; The Van Herk Group, ING Corporate Investments, Breedinvest and Gilde Healthcare. Agendia also brought in other new investors for the financing round, including Korys, the investment structure of the Colruyt family and others.
“Debiopharm has been very impressed by the quality of the work and recent substantial progress made by Agendia to overcome the hurdles it faced in the past. Agendia pioneered and advocated the implementation of personalized cancer management strategies. Its offering (both commercially and scientifically) has advanced molecular cancer diagnosis in its growing role. Becoming successful in this still challenging area will lead to substantial improvements for the selection of cancer therapies, and therefore also enhance the cost-effectiveness of highly innovative and valuable treatments for subsets of patients. In other words, to us, Agendia will support genuine win-win strategies and facilitate the reduction of the gap between the diagnostic and the drug world,” said Thierry Mauvernay, Delegate of the Board of Debiopharm.
“We are absolutely delighted to bring Agendia into our investment portfolio,” stated Vincent Vliebergh, CEO of Korys. “The company’s molecular diagnostic tests for breast cancer, developed and validated in close collaboration with leading academic centers, enable physicians to determine the most effective treatment for each individual patient, leading to better health outcomes and lower costs. As such, we see Agendia as a catalyst in the shift to more personalized medicine, and we look forward to working with the company to make this vision come true.”
About Agendia:
Agendia is a leading molecular diagnostic company that develops and markets genomic-based diagnostic products, which help support physicians with their complex treatment decisions. Agendia’s breast cancer Symphony™ suite was developed using unbiased gene selection, analyzing the complete human genome, ensuring 100% definitive results for cancer patients. Symphony includes MammaPrint, the first and only FDA-cleared IVDMIA breast cancer recurrence assay, as well as BluePrint­­, a molecular subtyping assay, TargetPrint®, an ER/PR/HER2 expression assay, and TheraPrint®, an alternative therapy selection assay. Together, these tests help physicians determine a patient’s individual risk for metastasis, which patients will benefit from chemo, hormonal, or combination therapy, and which patients do not require these treatments and can instead be treated with other less arduous and less costly methods.
In addition to the Symphony suite of tests, Agendia has a rich pipeline of genomic products in development. The company collaborates with pharmaceutical companies, leading cancer centers and academic groups to develop companion diagnostic tests in the area of oncology and is a critical partner in the ISPY-2 and MINDACT trials.
For more information, please visit www.agendia.com.
For further information, please contact:
Post+Beam
Peri Brauth
Tel: +1 646 442 2769
E-mail: brauth@postandbeam.is