SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwire - October 14, 2009) - Integrated Diagnostics launched officially
today with more than $30 million in funding. A pre-eminent team of
scientists and investors are behind the company, which was founded by
renowned biotechnology innovator Dr. Leroy Hood. Integrated Diagnostics
will focus on developing personalized and preventive diagnostics based on
breakthroughs using genomic and proteomic technologies to identify
organ-specific proteins. The company will be developing diagnostic tools to
help patients and physicians detect disease in its earliest stages.
Building on research from Dr. Hood, Dr. Jim Heath and other leading
scientists, Integrated Diagnostics is creating powerful diagnostic tools
and innovative biomarkers that will help define the coming transition to
health care that is predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory.
"Just as the DNA sequencer allowed us to decode the human genome, the
technology behind Integrated Diagnostics will allow us unprecedented
insight into preventing and treating diseases like cancer, diabetes and
Alzheimer's by analyzing the proteins that appear in their earliest
stages," said Dr. Hood, current president of The Institute for Systems
Biology (ISB); and inventor of the DNA sequencer, which played a crucial
role in the mapping of the human genome. "I have had the good fortune to
found several successful biotechnology companies. I believe Integrated
Diagnostics will prove to be among the most significant. By taking a
systems approach to monitoring an individual's health we will be able to
provide physicians and patients an early warning system for preventing and
treating diseases."
Integrated Diagnostics will have access to Dr. Hood's groundbreaking
research at ISB investigating protein blood markers that can report on the
physiological state of the body's 50 major organs. His research uses
genomic and proteomic techniques to identify blood proteins that are only
synthesized in the organ of interest and then identifies subtle changes
that result from disease or treatment. By monitoring concentrations of
these proteins in the blood, disruptions in healthy function can be
detected and traced back to the diseased organ. This work is based on the
concept of a systems view of disease where pathophysiology arises from
disease-perturbed networks of proteins, genes, and other molecules.
Through its research collaborations, Integrated Diagnostics possesses
proprietary data on organ-specific proteins across a range of human organs.
These protein panels are applicable to many diagnostic modalities including
early detection of disease, stratification of disease types, and monitoring
disease progression and recurrence. The company's technology is applicable
to a broad scope of diseases, including cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's
disease.
"Integrated Diagnostic's research enabling technologies will allow us to
cut in half the standard development times for diagnostics," said Dr. Hood.
"In addition, the company's technologies will ultimately permit the rapid
analysis of blood biomarkers from just a fraction of a droplet of blood, at
a cost of less than one dollar per protein measured."
Financing
InterWest Partners, a diversified venture capital firm, led the $30 million
Series A financing for Integrated Diagnostics and was joined by The
Wellcome Trust and dievini Hopp Biotech holding. dievini's participation in
the Series A financing is part of a collaboration with the Grand Duchy of
Luxembourg, which plans to become part of the investor group in the future.
Integrated Diagnostics is the first commercial enterprise to emerge from a
unique $200 million public-private partnership -- announced in 2008 --
between the nation of Luxembourg and three American research institutions,
including ISB.
"Luxembourg is very pleased to be part of Integrated Diagnostics as we seek
both to improve the quality of health care and spur the development of the
biotechnology industry in our country," said Patrizia Luchetta, deputy
director, Board of Economic Development for the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
"This venture is an important element of our long-term plan to advance
Luxembourg's research and commercial capabilities in systems biology and
personalized medicine."
As part of the investment, Integrated Diagnostics will have access to
research from the ongoing research collaboration in systems biology between
Luxembourg and ISB, which also involves the development of the Luxembourg
Centre for Systems Biomedicine.
"Integrated Diagnostics represents two important investing models," said
Dr. Arnold Oronsky, general partner at InterWest Partners. "The first is an
innovative public-private investment partnership that seeks to achieve
advances in health care, a return on investment and to spur the growth of a
nation's health care industry. The second model is the growing importance
of investing in science that helps us to understand the complex biological
systems that influence many diseases. There is a huge market for diagnostic
tools that can make sense of that complexity; we believe Integrated
Diagnostics is well placed to meet that need."
"We are optimistic that systems biology will become a critical tool in the
development of personalized medicine and believe that Integrated
Diagnostics is at the leading edge in this field," said Julie Eskay-Eagle,
Head of The Wellcome Trust Health Care Investments."
Founders
Dr. Hood is the founder of more than a dozen biotechnology companies,
including Amgen, Rosetta Inpharmatics and Applied Biosystems. Integrated
Diagnostic's other founders include:
-- Jim Heath, Ph.D, professor of chemistry at Caltech. Dr. Heath directs
the National Cancer Institute-funded NanoSystems Biology Cancer Center, and
has been a founder of a number of startup companies, including MTI
(acquired by Siemens in 2005), NanoSys, Inc., and Momentum Biosciences,
which is a biotech incubator currently operating in Los Angeles.
-- David Galas, Ph.D, professor at ISB and VP/CSO of the Battelle
Memorial Institute, an international non-profit science and technology
organization. Dr. Galas served as president and CSO of Chiroscience R&D
following their acquisition of Darwin Molecular Corporation, which Dr.
Galas co-founded in 1993. Prior to his involvement in the biotechnology
industry, Dr. Galas served as director for health and environmental
research at the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, where he
headed the DOE's Human Genome Project from 1990 to 1993.
-- Paul Kearney, Ph.D, president and chief scientific officer of
Integrated Diagnostics. Dr. Kearney is also scientific director of special
projects at ISB, where he helped establish the collaboration in
personalized medicine between ISB and the University of Luxembourg.
Previously, he was vice president, bioinformatics at Caprion Proteomics, a
leading provider of proteomics services for biomarker discovery.
About Integrated Diagnostics
The mission of Integrated Diagnostics is to leverage powerful emerging
technologies in the development of diagnostic products and measurement
technologies that enable physicians and patients to manage complex and
important diseases such as cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's through blood
tests that can monitor tens to hundreds of disease markers simultaneously.
The company is developing a pipeline of game-changing diagnostic products
that enable the diagnosis and prognosis of a variety of diseases. The
company is based on the concept of a systems view of disease where
pathophysiology arises from disease-perturbed networks of proteins, genes
and other molecules. For more information visit
www.integrated-diagnostics.com
About InterWest Partners
For 30 years InterWest (
www.interwest.com) has partnered with exceptional
entrepreneurs to build winning technology and life sciences companies. With
more than 200 years of combined operating and investing experience,
InterWest's team has raised $2.8B, completed more than 70 IPOs, and
participated in nearly 60 upside acquisitions. As the firm invests
InterWest X, a $650M fund, InterWest continues to believe that providing
capital is just the beginning of a long-term collaboration with
entrepreneurs to turn their vision into a thriving company.
About The Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust is the largest charity in the UK. It funds innovative
biomedical research, in the UK and internationally, spending over £600
million each year to support the brightest scientists with the best ideas.
The Wellcome Trust supports public debate about biomedical research and its
impact on health and wellbeing.
About dievini Hopp BioTech holding
dievini Hopp BioTech is the life sciences investment firm of SAP co-founder
Dietmar Hopp. Led by Friedrich von Bohlen and Christof Hettich, dievini
focuses on oncology, CNS, cell-based therapies and personalized medicine.
dievini's approach is entrepreneurially driven, with the goal of building
organizations that create and support synergies between therapeutic and
personalized medicine approaches. dievini and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
are collaborating in pursuit of this common goal.
Contact Information: FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Eliot Dobris
(415) 902-1241