Updated 12:13 p.m., July 9, 2010.
AssureRx Health Inc., the pharmacogenetic test maker in Mason, Ohio, has closed the books on a $1.6 million round of largely angel investment completed last year.
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AssureRx is pioneering a diagnostics market within the emerging practice of personalized medicine. The Cincinnati-area, company has developed a genetic testing system that helps doctors pick the right psychiatric drugs for patients, based on their genes.
In October, AssureRx launched its first test, GeneSightRx, which uses a cheek swab, mathematical algorithms and bioinformatics to narrow drug choices to those that work with a patient’s genes.
In no other field is the need for personalized medicine so great. One in four of us will fight illnesses from depression to schizophrenia, or disorders like obsessive-compulsive, in our lifetimes. Now, many patients try a dozen drugs to find one that works — and one that doesn’t cause bigger problems.
Founded in 2006 to commercialize research from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, AssureRx initially is targeting neuro-psychiatric and neuro-behavioral disorders because they represent the largest unmet patient need.
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Because the AssureRx test is positioned to help a large patient segment, the company also has a large market opportunity. CEO Jim Burns sees an annual U.S. market of about $3 billion per year “on the low end. It’s a potentially transformative kind of technology,” Burns said.
In April, Burns said his company was trying to raise between $8 million and $10 million in institutional money for its second financing round.
Since 2006, AssureRx has raised about $5 million — including the $1.6 million recently reported to the Securities and Exchange commission — from investors including Queen City Angels, CincyTech, the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, Blue Chip Venture, Cincinnati Children’s Tomorrow Fund and individual investors.
The company plans to use its future round of investor money “for clinical development, market development and further product development to expand the market base and build future products,” Burns said, at the time.
Future products might include tests that help doctors choose medications for patients who have neuro-degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, as well as disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity and post-traumatic stress.
AssureRx also has plans to grow. “We have 11 employees right now,” Burns said in April. “We’ll be growing to about 30 — nearly tripling — within the next 12 months.”
