Lophius Biosciences GmbH today announced that the company has closed a financing round of €3.1m led by VRD GmbH, supported by the Bavarian Growth Fund (“Wachstumsfonds Bayern”) of Bayern Kapital GmbH and private investors. The company will use the funds to expand clinical performance data, finalize design optimization and establish the blood-based tuberculosis (TB) infection detection assay on broadly used RT-qPCR automation platforms to enable fast market penetration. Broad clinical validation studies for market approval are planned to be initiated in the second half of 2020.
Lophius recently achieved an important clinical development milestone for its proprietary, blood-based multi-marker tuberculosis infection detection assay comparing active and latent TB patients to non-infected control subjects: The Lophius solution exceeded predefined performance goals. In particular, it clearly outperformed the benchmark Interferon Gamma Release Assay (IGRA) by correctly classifying more than 95% of patients with active TB disease as infected. In addition, the Lophius solution correctly classified as infected sputum smear-negative active TB cases missed by conventional PCR, showing the potential to complement direct pathogen detection by PCR.
“We are excited that these additional funds enable us to continue our program for establishing a new standard in TB diagnosis. The achieved high performance level of our blood-based solution allows the early identification of TB in the diagnostic workflow with the potential to significantly improve patient management and to save healthcare costs. In addition, our expertise and strong network provide us with a solid basis to further advance in our breakthrough program: A solution to consistently differentiate between latent tuberculosis and treatment-requiring active TB,” commented Bernd Merkl, CEO of Lophius Biosciences.
About Bayern Kapital
Bayern Kapital GmbH, based in Landshut, was founded on the initiative of the Bavarian government in 1995. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bavarian LfA Förderbank. As the venture capital organization of the Land of Bavaria, Bayern Kapital provides equity capital financing for the founders of young innovative technology companies in Bavaria.
Presently Bayern Kapital manages eleven investment funds with a total volume of around €325m. So far, it has invested almost €300m in 270 innovative companies in the fields of technology in various sectors including life science, software & IT, medical technology, materials and new materials, nanotechnology and environmental technology.
In this way, more than 7500 long-term jobs in sustainable companies have been created in Bavaria.
Lophius recently achieved an important clinical development milestone for its proprietary, blood-based multi-marker tuberculosis infection detection assay comparing active and latent TB patients to non-infected control subjects: The Lophius solution exceeded predefined performance goals. In particular, it clearly outperformed the benchmark Interferon Gamma Release Assay (IGRA) by correctly classifying more than 95% of patients with active TB disease as infected. In addition, the Lophius solution correctly classified as infected sputum smear-negative active TB cases missed by conventional PCR, showing the potential to complement direct pathogen detection by PCR.
“We are excited that these additional funds enable us to continue our program for establishing a new standard in TB diagnosis. The achieved high performance level of our blood-based solution allows the early identification of TB in the diagnostic workflow with the potential to significantly improve patient management and to save healthcare costs. In addition, our expertise and strong network provide us with a solid basis to further advance in our breakthrough program: A solution to consistently differentiate between latent tuberculosis and treatment-requiring active TB,” commented Bernd Merkl, CEO of Lophius Biosciences.
About Bayern Kapital
Bayern Kapital GmbH, based in Landshut, was founded on the initiative of the Bavarian government in 1995. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bavarian LfA Förderbank. As the venture capital organization of the Land of Bavaria, Bayern Kapital provides equity capital financing for the founders of young innovative technology companies in Bavaria.
Presently Bayern Kapital manages eleven investment funds with a total volume of around €325m. So far, it has invested almost €300m in 270 innovative companies in the fields of technology in various sectors including life science, software & IT, medical technology, materials and new materials, nanotechnology and environmental technology.
In this way, more than 7500 long-term jobs in sustainable companies have been created in Bavaria.
