Rubicon Genomics Receives $250K In Bridge, Eyes $1.2M Overall
As it concentrates on the development of cancer diagnostics, Rubicon Genomics received $250,000 in the first close of a bridge financing in December, President and Chief Executive Fred Beyerlein told VentureWire.
Beyerlein expects to cap the bridge at $1.2 million in March. Previous investors Duchossois Tecnology Partners, ARCH Development Partners and Sloan Ventures will provide the capital along with new individuals.
Rubicon closed a $2.5 million bridge in July that included the conversion of debt to equity. The second bridge was cash only, Beyerlein said. The company has raised $10.8 million to date and less than half is now held by outside investors, he said.
“We’re kind of at that funny point in time [where] if we decided to take the first product to market ourselves then we would do a full financing round,” Beyerlein said. He estimates Rubicon would require $8 million to $10 million in the equivalent of what would be a Series C round, although he said, “If we utilize our partner access to the market, we wouldn’t do a full round.” He said the company will make a decision in March and is leaning toward its partners rather than additional fundraising.
Rubicon is a cancer diagnostics company that integrates its whole genome, whole transcriptome and whole methylome amplification technologies into a single process called GEEPlex. Rubicon is developing GEEPlex tests for earlier detection of prostate and esophageal cancer. Rubicon also sells whole genome and whole transcriptome amplification kits and services to the research market for the genetic _expression analyses of blood and tissue, as well as problematic serum/plasma, formalin-fixed tissue, and forensic samples.
While internal research in cancer diagnostics has been funded by revenue from the services business and by out-licensing technology, Rubicon is not yet profitable. Beyerlein expects to reach profitability mid-2006.
In November, Rubicon launched MethylPlex, a method to detect trace amounts of methylated cancer-cell DNA present in serum, urine or biopsies. Beyerlein said that whole methylome amplification provides the ability to segregate and amplify the methylated regions, which is a “driving force within cancer diagnostics.”
“It’s our intent within this year to finish the clinical evaluation of MethylPlex technology,” Beyerlein said. Then the company “will either bring [a prostate or esophageal cancer diagnostic product] to market through the FDA process or will partner,” he said. Beyerlein expects to file a 510K in the second half of the year.
As a result of the most recent bridge financing, Managing Director Richard Sloan of Sloan Ventures will step down from the board and assume an observer’s seat. Sloan will be replaced by Tim Maybelen, former COO and CFO of Esperion Therapeutics Inc., which was eventually bought by Pfizer Inc. Beyerlein said Sloan felt it was a good time to bring in an outside director.
The company has seven directors including Ernest Ludy, founder and former chairman and chief executive of The MEDSTAT Group, a healthcare information company; Dan Phelps, vice president and senior investment officer at Duchossois; and Teri Willey, managing partner at Arch.
Rubicon said its goal is to discover methylated DNA, or meDNA, markers for prostate cancer progression that will be more specific than prostate-specific antigen, which is believed to be an indicator of the disease’s progression. Rubicon will initially commercialize these markers in a quantitative MethylPlex test of serum or urine such that aggressive cases can be treated earlier.
Rubicon also markets OmniPlex Whole Genome Amplification, the flagship product that allows amplification of DNA at the sub-nanogram level, and OmniPlex Whole Transcriptome Amplification, RNA amplification technology that produces microgram amounts of microarray-ready labeled target in about three hours, starting from nanogram quantities of RNA.
Beyerlein said, “The first two technologies are what we call legacy technology and we’ve licensed those for use in the research market only.”
Rubicon has licensed GenomePlex to Sigma-Aldrich Corp. and is in discussions with several parties about licensing RNA amplification technology, Beyerlein said.
About Rubicon Genomics
Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., USA, Rubicon Genomics, Inc. develops and commercializes the OmniPlex® family of amplification technologies for molecular diagnostics and research. GenomePlex™, MethylPlex™, and TransPlex™ are trademarks for Rubicon technologies to amplify trace amounts of DNA, methylated DNA and RNA. Rubicon’s partner, Sigma-Aldrich, sells GenomePlex™ kits to the research market. Rubicon discovers new cancer markers using MethylPlex™ and partners with pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies to co-develop more effective tests for cancer diagnosis and treatment. For more information, visit www.rubicongenomics.com.