Belfast-based Diaceutics raises £4 million to speed up diagnostic testing for new drugs

Diaceutics, a Belfast-based data analytics company working in precision medicine diagnostics, has raised £4 million from Silicon Valley Bank’s UK Branch (SVB). Following a three year plan, the working capital will fuel global expansion and product development, particularly the startup’s DXRX platform, a diagnostic network for precision medicine. The platform will be an end-to-end solution that helps develop and commercialise the diagnostic tests that must accompany new drugs. Currently, the lack of technology and globalised standards for diagnostic testing are causing a dangerous bottleneck. “Our research shows that currently half of patients are missing out on precision medicine drugs due to inefficiencies in the testing ecosystem. In addition, the average precision medicine drug is launched 4.5 years before its companion diagnostic test is readily available to the eligible patient population,” explains Diaceutics CFO Philip White.

By allowing pharmaceutical companies, labs and diagnostic companies to collaborate in one place with massive amounts of data, DXRX is designed to reduce this lag time and ensure “that laboratories are ready to accurately and efficiently test for each new drug on the day that it is launched.” Over £20 million has already been invested in the platform, says White. The database underpinning the whole operation has over 227 million patient records, what the Northern Irish company claims to be “the world’s largest repository of diagnostic testing data”. The business serves 36 pharmaceutical companies and has a network of 2,500 labs in over 50 countries. Andrew Hunter of Silicon Valley Bank, said: “With a strong global client base, increased geographic expansion, and development of the DXRX platform, Diaceutics is very well placed within the rapidly evolving precision medicine market.”

Before this round, Diaceutics has reported funding one other time since its founding in 2005, a €4.3 million round two years ago. Last March the company entered the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.

Photo: CFO Philip White