San Diego's Trovagene ($TROV) has nailed down $15 million from a direct stock offering, trading millions of shares for cash the company will use to advance its R&D efforts.
Trovagene sold off more than 2.1 million shares at $7 each to an undisclosed institutional investor, the company said, closing out a process it began in February.
The early-stage company is still working toward profitability, last quarter growing revenue by about 350% to $119,000 but posting a $1.1 million net loss as R&D costs more than doubled. Now, with $15 million on hand to fund its diagnostic development efforts, Trovagene is focused on pushing its assays to market.
This month, Trovagene licensed RainDance Technologies' digital PCR system for use on an in-development cancer diagnostic and secured a patent for technology to detect cell-free miRNA in urine and blood. Those advances complement Trovagene's intellectual property related to assays for HPV and other infectious diseases, the company said.
This quarter, the company plans to launch a test that detects the cancer-tied BRAF mutation from cell-free DNA found in urine, and Trovagene is at work on similar assays that can identify KRAS, PIK3CA and other dangerous gene mutations.
- read Trovagene's announcement