US-based diagnostics technology developer Astute Medical has received a $43m commitment from a consortium including life sciences company Bio-Techne Corporation as part of a strategic partnership agreement.
Unnamed existing backers also participated in the round, which increased Astute Medical’s total funding to approximately $158m in funding to date.
Founded in 2007, Astute Medical’s lead product, Nephrocheck, is a test that is able to assess the risk of moderate to severe acute kidney injury in hospitalised patients. The test has achieved regulatory approval in the US and the EU.
Bio-Techne has the option to further extend the new partnership and will receive certain production rights for future products and royalties on diagnostic tests that contain its reagents.
Astute Medical meanwhile will gain access to Bio-Techne’s libraries of antibodies and proteins to support the development of future tests.
FosunPharma, the pharmaceutical subsidiary of conglomerate Fosun, provided $20m for Astute in October 2015 as part of a strategic partnership deal.
Managed care consortium Kaiser Permanente and pharmaceutical firm Johnson & Johnson took part in the company’s $40.4m series C round in 201,2 through respective corporate venturing units Kaiser Permanente Ventures and Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC.
The series C round also featured MPM Capital, De Novo Ventures, Delphi Ventures and Domain Associates, and came after JJDC, Domain, Delphi and De Novo had backed a $39.5m funding round that closed in 2011.
Chuck Kummeth, president and chief executive of Bio-Techne, said: “The Astute Medical collaboration enhances Bio-Techne’s exposure to end customer sales, expanding its market reach, growing its expertise and knowledge of the fast-moving diagnostics field, and at the same time developing and providing key biological reagents as critical components in new diagnostic tests.”