UCD spinout OncoMark has announced that it has secured €2.1 million in funding. Funders included Kernel Capital, the Irrus Investments syndicate, the Galway HBAN MedTech syndicate, private investors and Enterprise Ireland.
Incorporated in 2007, OncoMark is developing novel panels of cancer biomarkers, to aid treatment decisions and allow more tailored patient management. The company said that the investment round will fund the commercialisation of its lead product, OncoMasTR, which it plans to launch in 2018. OncoMasTR is a prognostic test for early-stage breast cancer.
OncoMark was previously awarded €2.7m through the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument Phase 2, to clinically validate the OncoMasTR test. The business was co-founded by Professor William Gallagher and Steve Penney as a spinout from UCD’s School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, and is headquartered at NovaUCD.
Des O’Leary, OncoMark’s CEO, said: "In the absence of accurate tests, the majority of early-stage breast cancer patients are treated with chemotherapy despite many not benefiting from the treatment. This exposes individuals to severe side effects and results in significant costs to healthcare systems worldwide.
“The OncoMasTR test is designed to enable a more personalised approach to patient care, helping clinicians to determine which patients should not receive chemotherapy, ultimately improving their quality of life.”
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He added: “OncoMark currently has 14 employees, a significant increase prior to the OncoMasTR project, and I expect our staff numbers to increase further in the years ahead.”
The OncoMasTR test is based on a panel of genetic 'drivers' of breast cancer. The original research that resulted in the identification of the panel was led by Professor Adrian Bracken, Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin and researchers at the UCD Conway Institute, led by Professor William Gallagher. The OncoMasTR technology was subsequently exclusively licenced by both universities to OncoMark.
Photo: (L-R) Dawn Walsh, Kernel Capital; Des O’Leary, OncoMark; Professor William Gallagher, OncoMark; Deirdre Glenn, Enterprise Ireland; and Kevin Healy, Bank of Ireland. (Pic: Nick Bradshaw)
