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Attempting to make liquid biopsies a reality, Hedera Dx snaps €14M for less invasive cancer detection

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Photo Credit: Hedera Dx

While a British biotech, recently raised £2.4M to develop ‘smart bomb’ like drugs to kill cancer cells, and a Swiss quantum tech Terra Quantum landed $75M to develop a non-invasive technique for the early detection of cancer, another one from Switzerland — Hedera Dx, Swiss biotech( or as they call it ‘techbio company’) is in news for raising €14M in funding for their revolutionary cancer detecting technology which is also less invasive.

They plan to launch a blood-based testing solution this fall to profile cancer DNA circulating in the blood, allowing patients to access better treatments. The round was led by Adam Ghobarah, founder of Top Harvest Capital and former executive at Google and Google Ventures, with participation from Inventure, Air Street Capital, Amino Collective, and GRIDS Capital. In addition to commercialization, the funding will be used to launch the first phase of a large oncology Real World Evidence (RWE) clinical testing programme.

According to cancer.org, one out of every three people will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime. Tumours must be molecularly analysed to ensure patients have access to the best treatments. The current methods, however, have limitations (e.g. IVD compliance and validation are challenging to achieve and existing software workflows still represent the bottleneck). Furthermore, obtaining a traditional tissue sample is not possible for up to one-third of patients diagnosed with lung cancer, which may prevent patients from receiving therapies tailored to their specific tumour’s makeup.

Hedera Dx will now launch a blood-based solution that dramatically simplifies the process of determining the best regulatory-approved therapy for each cancer patient, allowing hospital labs to perform clinically actionable liquid biopsies in-house.

Clinical adoption of liquid biopsies has been limited due to numerous barriers for hospital laboratories. To overcome all of these barriers, Hedera Dx plans offer a combination of an in-house laboratory assay and an end-to-end software registered as an IVD medical device, Hedera Prime. Following a simple onboarding process, laboratories can begin performing liquid biopsies with a laboratory assay and the Hedera Prime software, resulting in a streamlined workflow with analytics, reporting, and therapy options.

Data on liquid biopsy

Simultaneously, the company will launch an associated Real World Evidence (RWE) programme, with the goal of creating a data asset on the real-world use of liquid biopsy and related cancer patient outcomes, which will help unlock the potential of this promising type of biopsy in cancer care.

Hedera Dx, founded in 2021 in Switzerland by Tommi Lehtonen, Damien Lapray, and Christian Meisel, aims to make liquid biopsies a reality in clinical practice worldwide, allowing more cancer patients to receive better therapy options and outcomes. The Hedera liquid biopsy solution will provide cancer patients with a minimally invasive blood-based test to help them find and access better treatment options.

“We’re beyond excited to launch Hedera Dx and to work with investors who share our vision of providing life-saving information for cancer patients. The adoption of liquid biopsy testing and the information from these analyses will also take our understanding of cancer to the next level and unlock new possibilities in cancer care. With our funding, we can bring a liquid biopsy solution for in-house laboratories to the market and make a clear impact on clinical practice,” says Tommi Lehtonen, Co-founder and CEO of Hedera Dx.

“I am proud that we enable hospital laboratories and oncologists to offer hope and new treatment possibilities for patients coping with cancer, helping them and their families to thrive and lead a better and longer life,” says Hedera Dx Co-founder and CMO Christian Meisel.

“We were impressed by both the Hedera Dx team and vision to introduce a global platform for liquid biopsy tests that will ultimately save lives in the long run,” says Adam Ghobarah, Founder at Top Harvest Capital. “The use of liquid biopsy tests in early detection, therapy selection, and recurrence monitoring is crucial to push cancer care forward. Hedera Dx will be fulfilling a critical role in bringing ML-based diagnostics to mainstream clinical care at scale,” continues Adam Ghobarah.

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