The seed funding will enable BioCaptiva to carry out its first trials to prove its technology is safe for use.
A Scottish bio-tech company has raised over £1 million in seed funding to help develop a ground-breaking “liquid biopsy” device.
BioCaptiva, a spin-out from the University of Edinburgh, says its novel biopsy device could revolutionise the early diagnosis and monitoring of cancers.
The firm raised the £1-million investment from Edinburgh-based business angel investment syndicate, Archangels, as well as Scottish Enterprise.
To prepare the company for this next stage in its development, BioCaptiva has also appointed Dr Frank Armstrong FRCPE as non-executive chairman and Dr Stephen Little as a non-executive director.
BioCaptiva’s medical device captures cfDNA (circulating free DNA) from the blood of patients in much greater quantities than the current standard of a single blood draw can, overcoming a significant current limitation of cancer liquid biopsy testing.
The seed investment will enable BioCaptiva to in-license the technology and carry out its first trials to prove its safe use in humans. BioCaptiva has been launched with the support of Edinburgh Innovations, the University of Edinburgh’s commercialisation service.
Should the technology prove successful, BioCaptiva plans to scale up its technology ahead of regulatory clinical trials, scheduled for completion during 2024.
Jeremy Wheeler, CEO of BioCaptiva, commented: “The BioCollector is a disruptive technology which will be transformational for liquid biopsy testing.
“We are confident that this platform technology can make a significant impact in this important area and, ultimately, enable cancers to be detected more quickly and accurately, enabling patients to receive precision cancer treatment as early as possible.”