FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. - Beringea, Michigan's largest and most active venture and expansion-stage capital investor, has invested in Intervention Insights, a Grand Rapids-based healthcare information technology company which helps community oncologists develop individualized patient treatment plans. The investment was part of Intervention Insight's $7.2 million Series B financing round, co-led by Beringea and Louisville, Ky.-based Chrysalis Ventures, and joined by Hopen Life Sciences, Michigan Accelerator Fund I and other existing investors. In conjunction with the financing, Beringea Managing Director Michael Gross and Chrysalis Managing Director Koleman Karleski have joined the company's board of directors.
The investment from Beringea was made through its InvestMichigan! Growth Capital Fund link opens in new window and will enable the company to expand the commercialization of its OncInsights product platform, while furthering strategic relationships in the cancer care industry.
"Our new funding positions us well in the emerging personalized oncology market and allows us to expand our service offerings to support community oncologists," said Jerry Callahan, CEO of Intervention Insights. "We believe that serving community oncology, as opposed to reserving ‘optimal' care to our academic cancer centers, is a critical element in improving cancer care in the U.S., where more than 80 percent of all U.S. cancer patients are treated."
Founded in 2009 based on a technology licensed from the Van Andel Research Institute (VARI), Intervention Insights' flagship product, OncInsights, is based on VARI's powerful bioinformatics platform. The OncInsights service works by matching a patient's unique cancer profile of more than 22,000 genes and matches the cancer's unique genomic make-up to the molecular mechanisms of action for more than 300 drugs. The end result is an easy-to-use report, electronically delivered to the oncologist to support her in making a treatment decision. This interactive report ranks molecularly targeted therapies which may target the patient's cancer. The OncInsights service is continually refined to provide physicians with latest evidenced-based, patient specific treatment options in an effort to improve outcomes and reduce costs.
"Intervention Insights is another example of innovation emerging from the state of Michigan's investment in life science research, resulting in an industry-leading technology that is transforming the way oncologists administer care," said Michael Gross, managing director of Beringea. "The company's technology is part of a rapidly emerging ‘personalized' era of medicine, which uses a patient's unique genetic information to tailor the appropriate therapy. Beringea is eager to help Intervention Insights bring its unique technology to a broader market and contribute to Michigan's reputation as a leader in health care."
About Intervention Insights
Intervention Insights' mission is to improve the lives of patients afflicted with cancer through evidence-based, molecularly targeted therapeutic interventions that are applied by community physicians. Founded in 2009 as part of a new field associating drug therapies with genomic signatures of disease - pharmacogenomics- our bioinformatics platform maps the unique genomic characteristics of a cancer specimen to treatments designed to target a patient's unique molecular tumor profile. The technology is commercially available and used by an expanding network of community oncologists. For more information, visit www.interventioninsights.com link opens in new window.
About Beringea
Beringea offers advice, guidance and capital to support growing businesses. Headquartered in Farmington Hills, Mich., the firm is Michigan's largest and most active venture and expansion-stage capital investor. With an additional office in London, Beringea has more than 70 portfolio companies in the U.S. and UK in a range of sectors, including health care and life sciences, clean technology, advanced manufacturing, media, Internet technologies and specialized consumer products. Beringea is the manager of several funds, including the InvestMichigan! Growth Capital Fund and the ProVen family of venture capital trusts. For more information, visit www.beringea.com or www.investmichiganfund.com link opens in new window.