Inivata, a UK-headquartered company developing a genomics-based oncology drug, closed a £39.8m ($52.2m) series B round today featuring Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, medical group Johnson & Johnson’s corporate venturing subsidiary.
Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), the patient capital affiliate of University of Cambridge, also took part, as did RT Ventures, commercialisation firm IP Group and Woodford Patient Capital Trust, which is operated by fund manager Woodford Investment Management.
Founded in 2014, Inivata has developed a blood test that extracts essential genomic information to detect cancer mutations and indicate an individual’s response to a therapy, helping clinicians make informed choices concerning treatments.
The company’s lead product, InVisionFirst-Lung is aimed at patients suffering from non-small-cell lung carcinoma, and is commercially available.
Inivata is partnering pharmaceutical and biotech firms on the development of its technology for other types of cancer, and the series B funding will accelerate that work and support continued company growth. It was spun out of University of Cambridge and charity Cancer Research UK.
Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, CIC, Woodford Patient Capital Trust and Imperial Innovations, which has since rebranded to Touchstone Innovations and been acquired by IP Group, contributed to a $45m series A round for the company in 2016.
Inivata had already secured $6m in a 2014 seed round led by Imperial Innovations, with participation from JJDC and CIC.
Clive Morris, Inivata’s CEO, said: “This series B financing allows us to commercialise our lead product in patients with advanced lung cancer, following our positive reimbursement decision.
“We also have an exciting portfolio of future products that will be advanced in parallel to maximise the benefits of our industry-leading InVision Liquid Biopsy platform to patients.”
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.
