April 30, 2018 – NovellusDx, a Jerusalem, Israel-based functional genomics company, completed a $6m equity financing.
Backers in the round, which adds to the nearly $17m already raised, included Helsinn Investment Fund S.A. SICAR, part of Helsinn Group, a cancer care company, Bio Capital Impact Fund, and Windham Venture Partners.
The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the execution of its strategy, move into commercialization, support continuing development and enhancement of its technology using the R&D team in Jerusalem.
Led by Haim Gil-Ad, CEO, NovellusDx provides functional information about mutations and their responses to drugs, which enables oncologists to treat patients with precision therapies and bio-pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs more effectively. The approach is to monitor the functional effects of mutations and observe the effects of drugs, drug combinations and drug candidates on the activity level caused by the mutations.
“We are excited to invest in NovellusDx and support their aim to lead the functional genomics revolution” said Roberto De Ponti, Head of New Venture and Strategic Investment at Helsinn International Services sarl. “NGS has revolutionized cancer care and now we have the opportunity to take it one step further to functionally test the mutations found and their response to drugs. This is the true promise of personalized medicine in cancer.”
“The additional funds will allow us to accelerate the execution of our strategy, move into commercialization and enable us to meet the need for functional oncology worldwide. This funding will also support continuing development and enhancement of NovellusDx’s technology using our excellent R&D team in Jerusalem”, said Haim Gil-Ad, CEO of NovellusDx.
Riccardo Braglia, Helsinn Group Vice Chairman and CEO added, “Israel is a hub for technological innovation, including in the life sciences, and NovellusDx is a premier example of that. We are excited to help bring its technology to the market and envision a deeper collaboration going forward.”
Adam Fine,Co-founder and Managing Director of Windham Venture Partners, remarked, “NovellusDx has developed a unique solution to a large unmet need in cancer by completing the ‘treatment stack’: biopsy, NGS, functional mutation testing and drug response. The technology can open up the full potential of NGS and cancer therapeutics.”
Helen Fisher, CEO and Managing Director of Bio Capital Impact Fund, said “We at Bio Capital Impact Fund are excited to join other high-caliber investors and provide active support for NovelluxDx. NovellusDx has the potential to revolutionize personalized cancer treatment and significantly improve the drug development process. By being able to stratify patients based on functional analysis of their individual genetic mutations quickly and cost-effectively, NovellusDx’s technology could reduce the cost of bringing new drugs to market and deliver better outcomes for patients.”
“As an early investor in NovellusDx, we are very pleased to welcome firms and strategic partners of the these quality” said Erez Chimovits, partner at OrbiMed. “This new coalition further validates the significant opportunities ahead for NovellusDx.”
About Helsinn Investment Fund S.A., SICAR
The Helsinn Investment Fund is focused on early-stage investments in areas of high unmet patient need. Backed by the Helsinn Group, and guided by Helsinn’s core values of quality, integrity and respect, Helsinn Investment Fund aims to help companies with innovative technologies to transform new ideas into commercial solutions with the potential to impact health-related quality of life of patients.
Drawing on Helsinn’s over 40 years of investment into research and development and commercial expertise, the investment fund selects companies with technologies in a range of areas including cancer therapeutics and diagnostics, cancer supportive care, metabolic and gastrointestinal disorders, and dermatology conditions.
For more information on NovellusDx, see NovellusDx
For more information on this investment, visit https://helsinninvestmentfund.com
Source: http://www.novellusdx.com/news/novellusdx-announces-6m-round/
