Led by world-class management team, board and scientific research
collaborators, LineaGen is leveraging new funding round, Utah Population
Database, and other key resources to advance Utah's proven biomarker
discovery platform for commercializing first-in-class molecular diagnostic
innovations
SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- LineaGen Inc.
(http://www.LineaGen.com), a biomarker discovery company created to
discover and commercialize significant molecular diagnostic innovations in
a variety of key healthcare areas, today announced the company's launch
with the close of a $5.8-million funding round led by vSpring Capital and
Sanderling Biomedical Ventures. Mesa Verde Venture Partners was the third
strategic investment partner in the Series A round.
The capital raised will be used to establish a world-class molecular
diagnostic commercialization entity for exploration into the nature, causes
and treatment of some of the world's most pressing medical and healthcare
challenges.
"The launch of LineaGen is an enormous win for Utah and its life
science community," said Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. "This is a classic
example of how leaders in Utah's life science industry, investment and
higher education research communities are working together to provide
global leadership in personalized and predictive medicine, one of the core
areas of focus in our Clusters economic development initiative."
LineaGen's initial focus includes groundbreaking diagnostic tools for
the advancement of personalized healthcare by furthering genetic
understanding, diagnosis and targeted treatment of significant disorders
and diseases, including:
-- Autism
-- Multiple sclerosis (MS)
-- Osteoporosis
-- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a chronic lung disease
which encompasses both emphysema and chronic bronchitis and is
currently the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States
"We are honored and humbled to receive this investment of highly
intelligent capital to launch LineaGen Inc.," said Dr. Michael S. Paul,
president and CEO of LineaGen Inc. "We are confident that this visionary
team of highly experienced investors will be instrumental in guiding
LineaGen's path to global leadership in the molecular diagnostics market."
LineaGen has named Dr. Dinesh Patel of vSpring, Fred Middleton of
Sanderling and Dan Wood of Mesa Verde to the company's board of directors.
The board also includes co-founder and chair Dr. Stephen Prescott,
president of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and a member of the
National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research; Dr. Al Harris, former
director of pharmaceutical licensing for Abbott; and Paul.
"We are delighted to finance LineaGen, which has great opportunity and
importance, led by a world-class management team, board and strategic
collaborators," said Patel, managing director of vSpring Capital. "We are
certain that this company will make a significant impact in the
marketplace, and improve the lives of countless patients and their
families."
"It is an honor to fund this extremely promising company," said
Middleton, managing director of Sanderling Ventures. "I have no doubt that
LineaGen will make a great impact in the medical marketplace, and do
tremendous good for patients and their families throughout the world who
are confronting a host of diseases and disorders."
LineaGen also enjoys strategic partnerships with world-class
researchers, including:
-- Chief scientific advisor Dr. Mark Leppert, an internationally
prominent genetics researcher and co-chair of the University of Utah's
Department of Genetics
-- Senior clinical advisor William McMahon, M.D., chair of the Department
of Psychiatry in the University of Utah's School of Medicine, and a
key researcher with the University's Brain Institute, who leads the
company's autism focus
-- Senior clinical advisor Dr. John Rose, a distinguished University of
Utah neurologist, who heads LineaGen's multiple sclerosis area
LineaGen will also leverage Utah's unique and proven population-based
genetic resources and information, which facilitated the identification of
several cancer genes -- including BRCA1 and BRCA2 (breast cancer) and the
APC (colon cancer).
LineaGen's strategic partnerships with prominent scientists and
researchers will draw upon and expand the university's seminal and
continuing contributions to human genetic understanding of diseases and
disorders. The University of Utah has discovered more disease-related genes
than any other university in the world, and the multi-generational Utah
Population Database is the world's most comprehensive population and
medical database -- comprised of more than ten million records relating to
more than six million individuals in Utah, Idaho, and surrounding regions.
"I believe LineaGen is better positioned than any other company in the
world to utilize the wealth of genetic information contained in the Utah
Population Database and related resources, in order to provide meaningful
and useful insight into the cause and nature of human diseases that will in
turn lead to the advancement of personalized healthcare," said Prescott.
"LineaGen is uniquely qualified to understand the complex interplay of
factors involved in many diseases, and to create an effective
discovery-to-commercialization platform for the identification of novel
molecular factors that will lead to more effective diagnostics and targeted
treatments for these diseases."
For more information about LineaGen Inc., its areas of focus and its
executives, board members and scientific advisors, visit
http://www.LineaGen.com.
About LineaGen Inc.
LineaGen, Inc. (http://www.LineaGen.com) is a content-based biomarker
discovery company focused on the commercialization of novel, patentable
diagnostic tests that enable effective personalized medicine and
healthcare. One of LineaGen's core competitive advantages is its access to
an unmatched biomarker discovery research platform that has been used to
help the University of Utah identify more disease-related genes than any
other institution in the world. LineaGen's goal is to develop a diversified
portfolio of novel biomarkers for the development of new diagnostic tests,
and to strategically license its intellectual property to commercial
partners for the development of new drug treatments. LineaGen current
discovery programs focus on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),
autism, multiple sclerosis and osteoporosis.
Contact:
Kimball Thomson Alex Lindell
Next Phase Communications (for LineaGen Inc.) LineaGen Inc.
801.918.3637 801.931.6207
kthomson@npcomm.com alindell@LineaGen.com
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