Manu’s Minute
Ringing out 2017
on a High Note
Finding a project that matches high-quality science with successful entrepreneurs makes my day. Securing funding for that project makes my year.
In 2016, OMRF helped launch Progentec Diagnostics, a company focused on developing diagnostics for lupus. Sanjiv Sharma and Mohan Purushothaman, serial entrepreneurs with extensive experience in the pharmaceutical space, founded the company. And their cornerstone technology was the work of Dr. Judith James, who’s done pioneering science at OMRF in predicting who will develop lupus and when those with the autoimmune illness will experience disease flares.
For a year and a half, this team has worked to build tests for early diagnosis of lupus, tracking disease activity and predicting lupus flares.
In November, that work paid off with an initial round of funding.
Lead investor i2E, along with Chicago-based OCA Ventures and Mayo Clinic Ventures, invested $1.25 million in Progentec. These funds will help the company move its technology for predicting lupus flares closer to commercialization. In particular, it plans to conduct retrospective and prospective studies at OMRF and Mayo Clinic to refine the flare-predicting algorithms it’s developed.
“The ability to predict an impending flare represents significant value to lupus patients and their physicians,” said Sharma. “This test is currently not available and is a focus area for us.”
Looking beyond flare prediction, creating a test to track underlying disease activity could be a game-changer. The company’s aim is to alter how lupus patients are identified for specific interventions, and doing this would enable physicians, patients and payers to make better care management decisions at all levels of the healthcare system.
As we continue to work with Progentec, we’ll do our best to implement the many lessons we learned when helping to develop another OMRF diagnostic and disease-management spinoff company: Crescendo Bioscience. Now a part of Myriad Genetics, Crescendo successfully built Vectra DA, a molecular diagnostic test now used by rheumatologists everywhere to guide the care of patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.
As I look to the New Year, I see a bright future for Crescendo. I hope that, wherever you sit, 2018 looks similarly rosy for you. Here’s wishing you happy and healthy holidays!
Best,
Manu
Please find the press release link here
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