PacBridge Capital Partners (HK) Limited has committed to a $12 million facility to Contextual Genomics Inc. In connection with the investment, Sue Paish, former President and CEO of LifeLabs Medical Laboratory Services, and James Lumsdaine of PacBridge will join the Contextual Genomics’ Board of Directors.
Founded in 2012, Vancouver based Contextual Genomics Inc. is a leading Canadian cancer genomics company specializing in clinical genomics and evolution in cancer. Contextual Genomics delivers solutions that harness the clinical and genomic data of cancer patients to improve patient diagnosis and present expanded treatment options to oncologists and patients.
Contextual Genomics has developed FIND IT, a proprietary molecular hotspot assay that screens for more than 140 somatic genome alterations found in solid tumour cancers to identify optimal therapeutic treatments and recognize acquired drug resistant mutations, making it possible for doctors to customize therapies with greater precision for cancer patients. The FIND IT assay, supported by Contextual Genomics’ innovative, cloud-based analysis engine, also helps to determine prognostic and diagnostic implications for patient care.
Contextual Genomics has partnered with Sonic Healthcare in Australia and Idengene Medicina Diagnóstica SA in Brazil for distribution of FIND IT to cancer patients in their respective jurisdictions.
The investment by PacBridge will be used by Contextual Genomics to continue to expand global distribution of FIND IT, as well as to fund the development of the company’s proprietary FOLLOW IT mutation detection assay for cell-free circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) in plasma.
FOLLOW IT will be deployed for patients with widespread metastatic disease at diagnosis and for use as a time series monitoring tool to read out tumour burden and treatment resistance. FOLLOW IT will screen for all of the same somatic genome alterations as FIND IT and can be used to follow disease progression for patients, including those whose tumours were initially tested with FIND IT.
Chris Wagner, Contextual Genomics’ Executive Chairman, said “We are very excited to partner with PacBridge Capital Partners. Their support of the company at this time of growth and expansion is an important validation of the quality of our team and the importance of the products we are developing, including FIND IT and FOLLOW IT.”
Sheldon Trainor, founder of PacBridge, stated “Contextual Genomics has a world class leadership team who have developed a platform that makes the benefits of computational cancer genomics available to the mass market. Their products and research have the potential to significantly improve the efficacy of cancer treatment for many patients around the world. PacBridge is very excited to partner with and support Contextual as they take their business to the next stage of product development and global distribution.”
Founded in 2009, PacBridge Capital Partners (HK) Limited is a Hong Kong based investment firm focused on investments in growth stage companies operating in the gaming, entertainment, online, biotechnology and environmental technology sectors.
photo credit: Contextual Genomics