SAN DIEGO, Sept. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Epic Sciences
(Epic) announced today that the company has completed a
$52 million Series E financing led by
Blue Ox Healthcare Partners, with participation by Deerfield
Management and Varian (NYSE: VAR). Existing investors, including
Altos Capital Partners, Genomic Health, Inc., Domain Associates, VI
Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, and Sabby Management,
also participated in the financing.
"We are extremely pleased to have such a strong and diverse
syndicate with leaders from the private payer industry, diagnostic
strategics, innovators from the technology space, and best-in-class
healthcare crossover investors," said Murali Prahalad, Ph.D., president and CEO of
Epic Sciences. "Each brings an expansive vision for how Epic can
build upon its position as a uniquely disruptive company in the
revolution of cancer care."
With the proceeds from the financing, Epic will advance a
portfolio of predictive tests and decision support analytics that
can guide clinicians and patients toward the ideal cancer drugs to
prolong life and minimize spend on ineffective therapies. The tests
are developed with the company's proprietary technology platform
called No Cell Left Behind®, which uses computer vision
and machine learning algorithms to identify rare cancer cells in
the blood and characterize immune response simultaneously.
"Epic Sciences is transforming late-stage cancer treatment by
developing important predictive tests that prolong life and reduce
the use of ineffective treatments, and thus healthcare costs," said
Charles D. Kennedy, M.D., managing
partner at Blue Ox Healthcare Partners. "We believe the company's
model closely aligns with healthcare's move towards individuality
and value-based care as well as Blue Ox's investment strategy. We
look forward to applying our deep strategic, operational, and
healthcare industry expertise to assist Epic in achieving its
clinical and commercial goals."
By understanding how populations of cancer and immune cells
change under the selective pressure of different drug classes, Epic
is uniquely positioned to predict which singular or combination
therapies will likely be effective. Predicting optimal,
individualized drug therapies creates value throughout the
healthcare system, as practicing physicians
can create better outcomes for their patients.
Payers benefit through reductions in ineffective treatment
costs, while pharmaceutical firms can optimize clinical trial
performance through better speed, effectiveness, and cost.
"Epic's unique and disruptive rare cell detection platform and
No Cell Left Behind technology generates transformative insights
into single cell biology, clonal evolution in cancer, and immune
response," agreed Andrew ElBardissi, M.D., MPH, MBA, principal at
Deerfield Management. "Tests made on Epic's platform have the
potential to revolutionize translational research, drug
development, and patient care. We look forward to partnering with
Epic during this exciting phase of its growth and
diversification."
"We are very excited to work with Epic in this emerging field of
personalized medicine. The collaboration could lead to novel tests
for stratifying patients receiving radiation therapy, and guide
clinicians in the optimal ways to combine treatments such as
immunotherapy and radiotherapy," added Renate Parry, Ph.D., US Senior Director, Global
Translational Science at Varian.
With more than 20 publications, 65 pharma partners, and 45
academic collaborators, Epic has demonstrated how these insights
can aid in the characterization of therapeutic response and the
early detection of drug resistance. The company also plans to take
its platform through the appropriate regulatory approvals and use
big data analytics to integrate test results with electronic
medical records, establishing patterns of cancer cell evolution,
drug selection, and clinical outcomes.
Earlier this year, the Oncotype DX® AR-V7 Nucleus
Detect™ test was launched as the world's first predictive
blood test that extends life by indicating when a patient with
castration resistant metastatic prostate cancer needs to switch
from targeted therapy to chemotherapy. Developed by Epic Sciences,
the Oncotype DX AR-V7 Nucleus Detect test is offered exclusively by
Genomic Health (NASDAQ: GHDX) and is commercially available in
the United States.
About Blue Ox Healthcare Partners
Blue Ox Healthcare
Partners, LLC is a private equity investment firm focused on
providing capital to growth stage healthcare companies targeting
the industry's transformation to individuality and value-based
care. Blue Ox targets emerging companies in the middle market with
commercial products and solutions in healthcare services, HCIT, and
medical and life sciences technologies, whose innovations,
strategies and operations are poised for growth. The Firm invests
in companies where it believes its team's operational expertise and
deep healthcare industry experience can be leveraged to a company's
long-term benefit. For additional information, please visit
www.blueoxhcp.com.
About Deerfield Management
Deerfield Management is an
investment management firm committed to advancing healthcare
through investment, information and philanthropy. For more
information, please visit www.deerfield.com.
About Varian
Varian is a leader in developing and
delivering cancer care solutions and is focused on creating a world
without fear of cancer. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Varian employs
approximately 6,500 people around the world. For more
information, visit www.varian.com and follow @VarianMedSys on
Twitter.
About Epic Sciences
Epic Sciences, Inc. is developing
novel diagnostics to personalize and advance the treatment and
management of cancer. Epic Sciences' mission is to enable the rapid
and non-invasive detection of genetic and molecular changes in
cancer throughout a patient's journey. The company was founded on a
powerful platform to identify and characterize rare cells,
including circulating tumor cells (CTCs). Epic Sciences' No
Cell Left Behind® technology helps match
patients to targeted therapies and monitor for drug resistance, so
that the best treatment path can be chosen at every clinical
decision point. Today, we partner with leading pharmaceutical
companies and major cancer centers around the world. Epic Sciences'
goal is to commercialize our technology to increase the success
rate of cancer drugs in clinical trials and improve patient
outcomes by providing physicians real-time information to guide
treatment choices. Epic Sciences is headquartered in
San Diego.
Further information is available on the Company's
website, www.epicsciences.com. Stay in touch on Linkedin, on
Twitter @EpicSciences or on
Facebook.com/EpicSciences.
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SOURCE Epic Sciences, Inc.