PhageTech Completes $2.4 Million Series A Funding Round

Irvine, Calif.-based PhageTech Inc. has finished raising $2.4 million in series A funding from a group of early stage investors co-led by Mark IV Capital and Black River Investments. Proceeds will be used to complete development and U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance of its PhageTech Biosensor technology.

The company’s Biosensor technology is designed for early detection of cancers and other diseases through urine and blood testing.

“Our technology enables an entire new category of near patient testing with tremendous benefits in portability, simplicity, time to result and cost over the current standard in lab-based diagnostics (e.g. sending samples out to a lab and waiting for results),” said CEO Richard Henson. “The entire diagnostic test is contained in a chip the size of a postage stamp without compromising accuracy, enabling physicians to make instant treatment decisions. Our vision is to develop PhageTech Biosensors and readers for physicians as well as patients (e.g. through an app on a cell phone). It will especially have enormous implications for developing countries with minimal resources who are in need of simple, low cost, near patient testing. Our goal in 10 years is to touch over one billion people.”

PhageTech Biosensors will be interfaced with portable readers enabling inexpensive, quantitative, near patient testing in under one minute providing physicians with real-time valuable information for quicker diagnoses, treatment and improved patient outcomes. The technology was developed with National Institutes of Health funds at the University of California, Irvine.