US-based blood testing company Adela has secured $48m financing from existing and new investors and announced certain changes to its senior leadership.
Existing investors F-Prime Capital, OrbiMed, Deerfield Management, Decheng Capital, and RA Capital Management participated in the financing round.
In addition, US-based clinical laboratory network Labcorp also joined the financing round as a new investor, which brings the company’s total investment raised to $108m.
Adela has appointed Lisa Alderson as interim chief executive officer, replacing Scott Bratman, who will continue as Adela’s Board of Directors member and the President.
Lisa Alderson said: “During my tenure on the Board of Directors of Adela, I have been highly impressed with the talent, dedication, and passion of the Adela team, as well as with the unique ability of its genome-wide methylome enrichment platform.
“This round of financing enables us to prepare operationally to commercialise products that hold the potential to improve care for millions of people with cancer.”
Adela board of directors’ chairman David Scheer said: “We are excited to grow Adela to the next level with this new financing and the addition of Ms. Alderson’s expertise in commercializing healthcare products and scaling companies for growth.”
Adela is engaged in providing blood testing for minimal residual disease (MRD) monitoring and early cancer detection through a genome-wide methylome approach.
The company intends to use the proceeds from the financing to advance its technology platform and commercialise its first product for MRD monitoring.
Adela developed the tissue-agnostic MRD monitoring product based on its genome-wide methylome enrichment platform.
The platform helps capture a broad range of biologically relevant genomic information to enhance test performance and improve treatment decisions.
In addition, the blood testing company will also use the proceeds to continue the development of its multi-cancer early detection (MCED) product, which runs on the same platform.
Labcorp vice president and oncology medicine head Shakti Ramkissoon said “Adela’s genome-wide platform expands the potential opportunity for MRD testing through a novel methylome approach.
“Bringing this highly differentiated offering to market means oncologists and patients will have a better understanding of MRD and how it impacts patients with cancer. Additionally, Adela’s work on multi-cancer early detection is exciting and has the potential to revolutionize the way early-stage cancer is detected.”
