T2 Biosystems Whips Up $15M For Quick Diagnostic Testing
By Brian Gormley
Patients with weakened immune systems must be monitored closely to check for infections or other dangerous events. T2 Biosystems Inc. said it has raised $15 million in Series C financing to introduce a diagnostic to enable doctors to catch these problems quickly.
T2 Bio plans to use the round to introduce its NanoDx device, which is designed to identify substances, such as DNA or viruses, in minutes. This could enable doctors to diagnose and treat infection and other conditions sooner than they can with traditional, central lab-based tests, which take much longer to deliver results, according to the company.
New investor Physic Ventures led the round, joined by new investors Arcus Ventures, Camros Capital, RA Capital Management and WS Investments. Previous investors Flagship Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners, Partners Healthcare and Polaris Venture Partners also participated.
The round, which closed earlier this month, gives T2 Bio about two years of capital. The company, based in Cambridge, Mass., closed a $10.8 million Series B round in 2008. Its valuation is undisclosed.
Physic, which has also backed cancer-diagnostics company On-Q-ity Inc., sees opportunity in technologies that enable diagnostic testing and monitoring to be performed outside of labs and other centralized settings, said Stacy Feld, a director with the firm. T2 Bio's technology stood out from many others the firm has seen, she said.
"There's certainly a lot of pursuit of rapid, point-of-care testing," said Feld, who has joined the T2 Bio board. But, she added, "We've seen a lot of technologies fall short in the precision and accuracy of testing."
T2 Bio's NanoDx will be about the size of a personal computer and give readouts in minutes instead of hours or days, Chief Executive John McDonough said. Most existing systems use optics to light up a substance of interest. To make it possible to distinguish that substance from other surrounding materials, however, the sample must be prepped first.
The T2 Bio technology is not optical, so the sample does not need to be purified. Instead, it is based on magnetic resonance technology and uses nanoparticles coupled with reagents. With the system, a sample of blood or other bio-fluid is loaded onto a cartridge, which is inserted into the instrument. The sample then mixes with the nanoparticle reagents.
Detection of the magnetic resonance signal from the solution makes it possible to identify nucleic acids, proteins, small molecules and other biomarkers. The company can run all of these tests on one instrument, another time-saving benefit, McDonough said.
T2 Bio sees immediate opportunity to help oncologists and transplant surgeons monitor the health of patients with compromised immune systems. Physicians could use the system to better track things like kidney function and to spot infection more quickly.
Central-lab tests can take eight to 72 hours to produce results, McDonough said. "We're going to change that paradigm to have results within an hour, while the patient is with the physician," he said.
Focusing initially on patients with compromised immune systems is sound strategy, Physic's Feld said. A number of point-of-care diagnostic companies target infectious disease, a more crowded market, she said. Spotting infection is one of multiple uses for T2 Bio's system in the care of immunocompromised patients.
T2 Bio plans to begin clinical trials by the end of 2011 and to secure U.S. Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance in 2012, McDonough said. http://www.t2biosystems.com
