Diagnostics

$7.5M round will help diagnostic firm commercialize blood test for early breast cancer detection

An extra $2.5 million from existing investors brings Provista Diagnostics' series A total to $7.5 million, which it will use for an ongoing clinical trial and the commercialization of its blood test to help in early detection of breast cancer.

By Deanna Pogorelc on October 12, 2012 2:11 pm

Company name: Provista Diagnostics.

Industry: diagnostics.

Location: Scottsdale, Arizona.

Solution/product: Provista develops blood-based detection tests for women’s cancers. Its lead product, dtectDx-Breast, would be used in conjunction with mammograms to help support early detection of breast cancer by identifying certain biomarkers in the blood. Its pipeline also includes early detection tests for ovarian cancer and lung cancer

Money raised: Existing investors tacked an extra $2.5 million on to the company’s series A, which originally closed in March, and brings the total for the round to $7.5 million.

How it will be used: The company says it will use the funding to expand its laboratory capabilities, complete a clinical trial and proceed toward a regulatory submission for dtectDx-Breast.

Investors: unknown.

Management team: CEO David Reese formerly oversaw healthcare investments as a managing director at Brencourt Advisors and Yorkville Advisors. He also founded an investment consulting firm in 2003.

Market opportunity: An estimated 232,000 Americans were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2011. If it’s detected before spreading to regional lymph nodes, breast cancer has a 98 percent 5-year survival rate. Estrogen recep­tor, prog­es­terone recep­tor and HER2 are the biomarkers traditionally used in breast cancer testing, but startups today are focusing on developing new biomarkers and making diagnostic tests available to providers at the bedside. Ascendant Diagnostics and GeneAsses, for example, are developing biomarkers for breast cancer, and UE Lifesciences and First Warning Systems are working on devices that use sensors to detect tumors early.