The efforts of establishing the pioneering software solutions ALTOmate and VARify in clinics in Europe and North America, have led to a successful third investment round for the Uppsala-based company Oncodia AB. The lead investors are Nolsterby Invest AB, Mats Paulsson’s foundation and Uppsala University Invest AB.
Today’s fast and accurate sequencing technologies enable mapping of the unique mutation patterns to uncover the origin of patients’ cancers. In the field of precision medicine, the genetic information of a tumor facilitates the choice of the right treatment for the right patient. However, recent studies have shown that almost 10% of all cancer patients are misdiagnosed due to the use of non-specific analysis methods, leading to unnecessary suffering for the patient and a substantial economic burden at the healthcare. Annually the mistreatment of cancer patients is estimated to cost the world 5 billion euro. This can largely be avoided if more accurate and sensitive analysis tools are used in clinics to guide the molecular pathologists and oncologists in their therapy decisions.
To address this need, Oncodia have developed superior software for fast and accurate identification of the unique tumor pattern of clinically relevant mutations. In a recent benchmarking study performed by the Nordic Alliance for Cancer Genomics (NACG), VARify proved to be strong in comparison to the methods used by leading hospitals in the Nordics. The fact that the products are CE marked for IVD now strengthens the position further. “This investment gives us resources to establish our software on the European markets and aggressively expand to North America. We are getting excellent results in several benchmarking studies and the timing with the new European legislation (IVDR) positions the company on a strong growth path” says Ivaylo Stoimenov, CEO and co-founder of Oncodia.
Oncodia was established in 2018 as a spin-off from Professor Tobias Sjöblom’s research at Uppsala University. The company has previously commercialized an automated extraction technology NGEx, which is currently serving customers at several important clinics in Scandinavia. Oncodia is privately owned, part of the Uppsala Innovation Center network, funded by private investors and supported by competitive innovation grants from Horizon 2020, EIT Health and Vinnova programs.
