Additional Funding and Scientific Expertise Advance Company’s Clinical Development and Efforts Towards Commercialization
SAN DIEGO, Calif., May 12, 2021 — Bluestar Genomics, an innovative company leading the development of next-generation epigenomic approaches to early cancer detection, today announced the company had raised $70 million in new equity funding. Led with the increased funding by the current investor, Mattias Westman, founding partner of Prosperity Capital Management, the oversubscribed Series C round includes several existing investors and multiple new investors: Pathology Asia Holdings Pte Ltd (Pathology Asia), the largest independent medical diagnostics group in Southeast Asia, as well as a venture fund based in San Francisco, CA, and a large, diversified asset manager on the west coast, among others. VAHOCA Pte Ltd acted as a financial advisor to Bluestar Genomics.
Separately, the company announces the expansion of its Scientific Advisory Board, with the appointment of Drs. Felix Feng, professor of radiation oncology, urology, and medicine, University of California San Francisco, and Craig Venter, Ph.D., chairman and CEO of the J. Craig Venter Institute. With the new appointment, Feng and Venter are joining Alan Ashworth, Ph.D., FRS, president, Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco.
“As we continue to champion the development of next-generation non-invasive cancer detection, we welcome Drs. Feng and Venter to our team. Their leading scientific and clinical expertise will help accelerate our development and commercialization efforts,” said Samuel Levy, Ph.D., chief executive, and chief scientific officer at Bluestar Genomics. “Collectively, these milestones will extend our ability to deliver on our promise to improve on existing cancer screening and provide a new solution where none exists.”
Series C investments and scientific advisory board membership expansion are largely inspired by Bluestar Genomics’ groundbreaking technology platform that employs state-of-the-art machine learning coupled with the 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) as a screening method to detect cancer in multiple organs in men and women. The company’s novel approach has recently demonstrated positive results in two studies published in Nature Communications and earned the FDA’s breakthrough device designation for the company’s proprietary non-invasive pancreatic cancer detection test.
“The convergence of innovative technologies has pushed the cost of multi-cancer screening down by 20-fold, allowing for continued optimization of cancer detection via routine blood draw to improve patient early treatment options,” said Venter. “With the multi-cancer screening market projected to scale to more than $100 billion in the U.S. alone, Bluestar Genomics’ technology is uniquely positioned to address the needs of over 60 million patients. I am excited to become part of such a pivotal contribution to improving patient lives through completely unlocking the full potential of genomics.”
About Bluestar Genomics
Bluestar Genomics develops next-generation epigenomic approaches to detect deadly cancers, like pancreatic, early when curative therapies are possible. Founded based on the work of Dr. Stephen Quake, Bluestar Genomics combines novel epigenomic technologies with its innovative machine learning architecture to tackle the most urgent challenges such as cancer detection. Leveraging the ease of liquid biopsy technologies, the company’s cell-free DNA-based assays are targeting early cancer detection using simple and noninvasive blood draws to improve outcomes and save lives. Led by a team with decades of experience bringing products from concept to market, Bluestar Genomics is continuously seeking better ways to measure disease pathology and bring its technologies to patients, clinicians, scientists, and investors searching for tomorrow’s cures.
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