Date: Aug 15, 2015 Author: Bradley J. Fikes Source: San Diego Union Tribune (
click here to go to the source)
Genalyte, a San Diego biomedical company, said Tuesday it has raised $44 million from venture capital firms. The money will help Genalyte commercialize its diagnostics system, which produces test results in minutes from one drop of blood.
Khosla Ventures led the financing, joined by a group of previous investors, including the Redmile Group, Claremont Creek Ventures, and BioMed Ventures.
Genalyte aims to cut out the lag time between ordering tests and getting results. This creates delays, costs and inefficiencies that could be eliminated if testing could be performed in the doctors office while patients wait.
Genalyte's Maverick Detection System analyzes blood samples with a disposable microchip. The privately held company now markets the Maverick system to drug companies as a research tool, but it's not approved for clinical testing.
The company has been moving toward the commercial market. To meet the Ebola emergency last year, the company produced a 10-minute test that's run on the Maverick system. But to use the system for the wider commercial market, the tests it intends to offer must be validated.
Gunn said the company will use the funding to further develop the Maverick system, and to pay for a clinical study to show it works least as well as existing tests. If the results are favorable, Genalyte can then bring the system to the market.
photo
Cary Gunn, Genalyte's CEO.-- Genalyte
+Read Caption
In connection with the funding, Genalyte will be hiring more people, said Cary Gunn, the company's chief executive. The company's employee payroll, now about 40, is expected to double over the next several months.
The testing process takes as little as 15 minutes, Gunn said. So when it's clinically available, the system will let doctors test patients right in their offices and get results in the same visit.
Testing is now usually performed at a laboratory and requires the patient to make a second visit, Gunn said. Streamlining this process reduces inconvenience to the patient and saves time and money for the doctor and health insurers.
"That's what we believe the market needs," Gunn said. "You as the patient are sitting in front of your doctor, and your doctor actually has the lab test in hand. And you're able to discuss the results and hopefully leave with a better diagnosis. This whole game that we play of phone tag, days later, and the doctor has forgotten who you are, that's a problem that needs to be solved."
The clinical diagnostics market as a whole is worth about $75 billion, Gunn said; how much of this market Genalyte can capture isn't known.
Gunn said the company is initially targeting rheumatologists for the Maverick system. It will offer a comprehensive menu of tests for autoimmune diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Genalyte is partnering with individual rheumatologists to perform the clinical study.
"The intent is to enroll 1,000 patients and do a head-to-head comparison between our platform and other technologies," Gunn said. Results are expected in the first quarter of 2016.
