Rna Diagnostics Inc., a Canadian company with a patented platform technology providing real-time cancer therapy guidance, announced today the closing of a $5 million Series A financing. The funding was led by iGAN Partners and includes new and existing investors.
Rna Diagnostics’ platform technology is the RNA Disruption Assay™ (RDA). RDA is a diagnostic test that measures tumor response after the 1st cycle (14-21 days) of neoadjuvant therapy (drug treatment prior to surgery). It is expected to become a critical tool for managing response-guided therapy in cancer patients. RDA consists of proprietary methods that quantify and score the degradation (disruption) of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) within tumors induced by response to a wide spectrum of chemotherapeutic and targeted drugs. RNA disruption has been shown to be an effective predictor of response/non-response and survival after neoadjuvant therapy.
“This $5M Series A financing allows for continued progress on our pivotal BREVITY trial, as well as other programs, and provides capital needed to enable us to reach commercialization of our RNA Disruption Assay,” said Dr. Jeremy Bridge-Cook, President and CEO of Rna Diagnostics.
“We are tremendously excited to be involved with the development of Rna Diagnostics. We believe their test will significantly reduce the costs of treating cancer while dramatically improving care,” said Sam Ifergan, CEO and founder of iGan Partners.
BREVITY is a prospective, double-blind, pivotal validation trial for RDA in stage 2/3 breast cancer. BREVITY is being conducted in Canada, the U.S., Germany, Italy and Ireland, and will accrue a total of 725 patients. The trial is critical for the commercial launch, clinician acceptance and reimbursement of RDA. Full patient accrual, as well as the primary endpoint of the trial, is expected to be achieved in 2020. For more information about BREVITY click here.
Rna Diagnostics is supported by the Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO) through the 2018 Capital Access Advisory Program or CAAP.