Clarapath Closes $36M B Round to Transform 150-year old Laboratory Processes
July 24 2024 - 10:00AM
Business Wire
- Clarapath, a leader in healthcare robotics, will use the
investment to support the commercialization of its platform and
fund future laboratory process consolidation
- Clinical and non-clinical laboratories are adopting the
solution to help alleviate a labor crisis and the need for
standardization in the lab
Clarapath, a medical robotics company modernizing and
transforming how pathology laboratories process tissue, announced a
$36 million Series B-1 funding round led by Northwell Ventures.
Additional new strategic investors participated in the financing,
including CU Healthcare Innovation Fund, Mayo Clinic, and Ochsner
Ventures, bringing the company's total funding to $75 million.
“Our strategic investors share in our mission to significantly
overhaul this critical aspect of patient care that has long been
overlooked,” said Eric Feinstein, CEO of Clarapath. “As labs adopt
digital pathology downstream, automation in prior steps is crucial
to establish consistent results and provide best-in-class samples
for diagnostic review. Our automation and new digital tools capture
and aggregate never-before-seen data, ultimately benefiting
patients with faster results and less subjectivity.”
The discipline of pathology involves the microscopic examination
of cells and tissue, underpinning the research, diagnosis and
treatment pathway of nearly every disease type including: cancer;
autoimmune conditions; degenerative diseases and others. Currently
in the US, more than 12 million human and veterinary biopsies are
performed each year, with millions more for biopharmaceutical drug
safety. Today, a multi-prong crisis exists in laboratories that is
driven by severe labor shortages, rising caseloads and an
antiquated, manual process of preparing tissue samples.
“Innovation is embedded in Northwell’s culture and integral to
the way we approach investment in novel solutions which improve
patient care and lower cost.” said Rich Mulry, CEO of Northwell
Holdings. “We identified Clarapath seven years ago as a company
with a bold vision to radically change laboratory medicine and are
committed to continued support of their progressive journey which
will transform medical diagnostics.”
Robotics and automated systems have been introduced in
healthcare settings as a way to alleviate workforce issues and
standardize, however most of the progress has been aimed at
surgical robots or physical rehabilitation. With this latest round
of funding, Clarapath is poised to be the first US-based company to
develop and deploy a new category of ground-breaking healthcare
robotics, machine vision and digital automation tools, elevating
the standard for hospitals and patients.
“For too long, pathology laboratories have not seen the level of
technology innovation that other areas of medicine have seen,” said
Gregg Sossaman, M.D., Chair of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at
Ochsner Health and incoming President of the American Society for
Clinical Pathology. “Clarapath demonstrates the right mix of
technical, robotic expertise coupled with healthcare workflow
experience.”
With this new capital, Clarapath will further accelerate the
commercialization of SectionStar™. The company will also leverage
the funds to expand its sales and service, precision manufacturing
capabilities as well as continue its robust R&D pipeline.
“Together, we are building the foundation for a 'lab of the
future' that incorporates end-to-end automation, robotics, and AI
to the patient tissue lifecycle,” says Joaquín García, M.D., chair
of the division of Anatomic Pathology within Mayo Clinic’s
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and chair of Mayo
Clinic's Digital Pathology Program.
About Clarapath
Clarapath is a medical robotics company aimed at catalyzing
change in the way pathology laboratories work. Clarapath's
SectionStar is the first (pending US launch) all-in-one tissue
sectioning and transfer system that dramatically increases
capacity, reliability, and consistency while minimizing the need
for highly skilled labor. The company is headquartered and runs its
medical device development in Hawthorne, NY. It has a
CLIA-certified laboratory that serves clinical and non-clinical
organizations. For more information, visit
https://www.clarapath.com/
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Media: Claire Rowberry, 617 785 5571,
claire@clearcommsc.com
Marketing/PR: Rebecca Schmidt, 914 393 9434,
rschmidt@clarapath.com