AdvanDx Closes $15 million Series C Financing Round from bioMérieux, LD Pensions and SLS Venture
Woburn, MA, U.S.A. September 18, 2007 - AdvanDx, Inc. announced today that it closed a $15 million Series C financing round from new investor bioMérieux and existing investors LD Pensions and SLS Venture. This latest financing will be used to accelerate commercialization of AdvanDx's product pipeline through its global sales and marketing operations as well as to expand its world class research and development activities. The funding follows the recent announcement of AdvanDx's exclusive distribution partnership with bioMérieux for its PNA FISH™ rapid in vitro diagnostic products for positive blood cultures in the United States. Together with the funding, the distribution partnership secures a significant cash flow stream for AdvanDx.
AdvanDx’s suite of rapid, easy-to-use, molecular diagnostic products provide pathogen identification in hours versus days. Studies demonstrate that implementation of these products can lead to a significant reduction in intensive care unit related mortality due to Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections and reduce median hospital costs by up to $19,441 per patient.*
Herb Steward, Executive Vice-President of bioMérieux Inc., stated: “We are very excited about AdvanDx’s molecular diagnostic capabilities and the future of what this partnership can deliver. AdvanDx’s current products perfectly complement our solutions that help hospitals manage patients with bloodstream infections. Our customers can now benefit from a comprehensive diagnostic suite; from detecting the infection with our BacT/ALERT® 3D automated blood culture system, to rapidly identify the causative pathogen in just a few hours with AdvanDx’s PNA FISHâ„¢ and then determine the pathogen’s antibiotic susceptibility with our VITEK® 2 ID/AST system.â€
Hans Andreasson, Senior Partner at SLS Venture commented, “AdvanDx has consistently delivered on its strategy of providing better infection and antibiotic management via its rapid diagnostics and SLS Venture is excited to continue to support the company as it now enters the next phase of broad market and product development.â€
“With this round of financing AdvanDx can further drive its rapid growth, founded on our core strengths of superior technology, research and product development capabilities and our unique enterprise sales and marketing strategy,†said Thais T. Johansen, President and CEO of AdvanDx, Inc. “This investment is a strong show of support from our investors and an industry leader like bioMérieux that enables AdvanDx with the necessary resources to rapidly expand our market presence in order to attain our overarching goal of bringing these life saving diagnostic products to hospitals worldwide.â€
*Ly et al. “Impact Upon Clinical Outcomes of Translation of PNA FISH Generated Laboratory Data From the Clinical Microbiology Bench to Bedside in Real Time.â€Â SHEA 2007. Baltimore, Maryland
About AdvanDx, Inc.
AdvanDx is the world’s leading provider of fast, accurate and easy-to-use in vitro molecular diagnostic products that rapidly identify infectious pathogens to enable dramatic improvements in patient outcomes while reducing hospital costs.
Every year, 350,000 patients contract bloodstream infections, causing over 90,000 unnecessary deaths and significant costs to the U.S. healthcare system. The rapid identification of the infecting pathogens is crucial to ensure early and appropriate therapy to save lives and cut costs. In response, AdvanDx leverages its molecular diagnostic products to detect and identify infectious pathogens and provide therapy-directing results in hours versus days.
AdvanDx’s products are easy-to-use, requiring only standard lab equipment, thus reducing startup, implementation, technician and maintenance time, while providing fast results without sacrificing accuracy. Customers include: the Cleveland Clinic, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the Johns Hopkins Hospital, the University of Maryland Medical Center and Detroit Medical Center. AdvanDx has formed partnerships with bioMérieux and others to provide its products and services to hospitals worldwide.
About Scandinavian Life Science Venture
SLS Venture, an international venture capital company with a Scandinavian base is one of the largest in Scandinavia focusing on the life sciences sector with approximately € 330 million under management. SLS Venture has invested in 36 pharmaceutical, medtech and biotech companies to date. Portfolio companies include Aerocrine, Exiqon, Symphogen, Light Sciences Oncology and NeuroNova. For more information, please visit www.slsventure.com.
About LD Pensions
LD Pensions is one of Denmark’s largest pension funds with more than US$10 billion under management. LD Pensions has a long-term and highly selective investment strategy. Investments made in unlisted companies are based on a fundamental analysis of the opportunity with an objective to hold the investment for a minimum of 3-5 years in order to position the company for a strategic sale or stock exchange listing. It is important for LD Pensions to demonstrate a high discipline of active ownership with respect corporate governance, information policy and ability to meet the requirements and expectations from the surrounding society in terms of responsible environmental management and social responsibility. For more information please visit www.ld.dk.