Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a condition wherein atherosclerotic plaque build-up narrows or blocks the arteries that supply blood to the heart, causing death. Current treatment approaches are one-size-fits-all and therefore these are ineffective for many patients. A more detailed understanding of patient endotypes will support drug development by identifying new targets in specific patient groups, reducing clinical trial sizes and costs, and increasing success rates, ultimately improving outcomes for patients.
Addressing this, Cambridge-based PlaqueTec has developed a proprietary technology and data analysis platform to endotype patients and uncover potential biomarkers of coronary vascular function and plaque progression.
Raises $8M funding
Now, PlaqueTec has secured $8 million in equity financing led by Lord Moynihan of Chelsea alongside the Future Fund, with support from existing investors.
The funding will be used to support PlaqueTec’s ongoing BIOPATTERN trial, designed to improve understanding of CAD pathobiology and how it varies between individuals and to build BIOCARTA, its novel biomarker discovery tool.
It will also support the ongoing trial, enabling the collection of new data to expand BIOCARTA and generate novel site-of-disease insights that will accelerate a precision medicine approach to improve treatment outcomes for patients with CAD.
BIOCARTA, a bioinformatics discovery platform
Led by Martin Stapleton, PlaqueTec identifies endotype-specific biomarkers to advance precision medicine for CAD. Its BIOCARTA platform interrogates data and groups patients with CAD into endotypes with defined signatures of the disease. It correlates in vivo biomarkers localising at the disease site with plaque imaging, genomic analysis, blood biochemistry and clinical and demographic phenotypes to further enhance a unique understanding of disease.
PlaqueTec is using BIOCARTA to identify biomarkers to accurately assess patients and therefore inform more targeted therapeutic interventions, transforming patient care.
At the heart of BIOCARTA is PlaqueTec’s BIOPATTERN trial, which uses the company’s proprietary blood sampling device, the Liquid Biopsy System. It collects samples containing biomolecules localising at or being released by coronary plaque.
Martin Stapleton, Chairman, PlaqueTec, commented: “CAD is a leading cause of death worldwide and represents an area with significant unmet medical need. The continued support from our existing investors and additional funding from the Future Fund reinforces the potential of our technology and BIOCARTA database, and brings us closer to achieving our vision of opening a new frontier of precision medicine for millions of patients with CAD worldwide.”
