Top Story, Diagnostics

Ativa Medical takes big leap forward with $15M Series B

Additional investors means additional, significant progress for St. Paul, Minnesota-based diagnostics company Ativa Medical.

By Nicole Oran on September 17, 2015

St. Paul, Minnesota-based Ativa Medical, which developed the first quick-turnaround diagnostic micro lab, has come a long way since its conception in 2008. This is signified by the company’s recent $15 million Series B equity funding.

This additional funding will go toward product development and FDA approval in preparation for a commercial launch. The micro lab is a counter-top system — an alternative to other larger, pricier central lab blood test instruments. This option was designed to make treatment decisions a lot quicker and easier for doctors. Using just a few drops of blood, the analyzer can reportedly perform many basic tests within just five minutes.

Investors out of Asia will provide unique insight into the diagnostic market for Ativa, according to CEO James McNally, Ph.D.

“We thank our new investors for their support of Ativa and for the critical global market insight and commercialization access that they provide,” said McNally. “Beyond North America, we believe Asia will be the largest global market for in vitro, point-of-care diagnostics, which is why we are particularly thrilled with our newest partners.”

According to the Ativa’s announcement, these are the investors currently on board:

– Ping An Ventures, the venture capital division of Ping An Insurance
– Hermed Capital, a partnership between Fosun Pharma and SK Group
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A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma

A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.

By PurpleLab
– Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings
– Dian Diagnostics, China’s premier central laboratory service
– GIMDx, U.S.-based in vitro diagnostic R&D and development unit of Guangzhou Improve Medical
– Diamond BioFund, Taiwan’s largest health care fund
Some of the investors piped in on their motivation and enthusiasm for involvement with Avita, according to the company’s site. Here’s what some of them said.
  • “Efficiency and information are key to positive medical outcomes. The Ativa micro lab is an economical solution and value-add to our expanding national clinic and care delivery programs,” said Jiang Zhang, director of Ping An Ventures. “Our goal is to cooperate globally with talented partners like Ativa to bring technologies to market to benefit our 200 million customers.”
  • “As the leading independent commercial lab in China, Dian has always been looking for new technologies and new developed tests globally in order to deliver quality medical services to clients,” said Wilson Zhang, director of business development, Dian Diagnostics. “This new technology can assist Dian to expand fast diagnostic results across the whole nation and help decrease medical insurance costs.”
  • Dr. Larry Liu, president and CEO of GIMDx, said, “We are very pleased to make our investment into Ativa and look forward to our professional collaboration in R&D and commercialization in China because this product has the potential to be vitally useful in many settings of IVD application.”

Another step forward in expediting diagnostics.

Photo: Flickr user rosemary