Hedera Dx nabs €14 million to accelerate global adoption of liquid biopsies

According to cancer.org, 1 in 3 people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. To make sure patients get access to the best treatments, tumors need to be analysed on a molecular level. However, the current methods have limitations (e.g. IVD compliance and validation are challenging to achieve and existing software workflows still represent the bottleneck). In addition, for up to one-third of patients diagnosed with lung cancer, obtaining a traditional tissue sample is not possible, which may prevent patients from receiving therapies targeted to their specific tumor’s makeup. 

Swiss biotech company Hedera Dx has raised €14 million in funding to launch a blood-based testing solution to profile cancer DNA circulating in the blood and help patients access better treatments.

The round was led by Adam Ghobarah, founder of Top Harvest Capital and backed by Inventure, Air Street Capital, Amino Collective and GRIDS Capital. 

Going forward, the company will use the funding to implement the first phase of a large oncology Real World Evidence (RWE) clinical testing programme.

Founded in 2021, Hedera Dx is launching a blood-based solution that radically streamlines the process of finding the right regulatory-approved therapy for each cancer patient, enabling hospital labs to run clinically actionable liquid biopsies in-house.

Tommi Lehtonen, co-founder and CEO of Hedera Dx said: “The adoption of liquid biopsy testing and the information from these analyses will also take our understanding of cancer to the next level and unlock new possibilities in cancer care. With our funding, we can bring a liquid biopsy solution for in-house laboratories to the market and make a clear impact on clinical practice.”

Hedera Dx co-founder and CMO Christian Meisel added: “We enable hospital laboratories and oncologists to offer hope and new treatment possibilities for patients coping with cancer, helping them and their families to thrive and lead a better and longer life.” 

Adam Ghobarah, founder at Top Harvest Capital concluded: “The use of liquid biopsy tests in early detection, therapy selection, and recurrence monitoring is crucial to push cancer care forward. Hedera Dx will be fulfilling a critical role in bringing ML-based diagnostics to mainstream clinical care at scale.”