Predictive Biosciences, a company that hopes to improve the way cancer is diagnosed and monitored, announced that it brought in $21.8 million in second-round financing led by New Enterprise Associates and including contributions from Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Flybridge Venture Capital and Highland Capital Partners. This brings the company's VC total up to $31.7 million since its inception in 2006.
The Lexington, Mass.-based company plans to use its new funds to complete clinical studies and launch new trials to see if biomarkers in urine can be used to accurately diagnose and track the growth of cancer. If results are promising, this technology may make constant blood tests and painful biopsies a thing of the past. The initial focus of the research will be bladder cancer, but scientists say that the urine tests should be able to accurately detect the presence of prostate, breast, colorectal and other types of cancer, according to VentureWire.